Shaundi's Row: The Third
by TehShizzle
Summary: After a controversial series of events occurs, Shaundi becomes the new boss of the Third Street Saints. How will she handle the promotion after the devastating loss of her two closest friends? Based upon the events of Saints Row: The Third. AU. R&R!
1. When Good Heists Go Bad

**Shaundi's Row: The Third, **Starring Shaundi

_Written by TehShizzle_

Based upon _Saints Row: The Third_, a video game developed by Deep Silver Volition and published by Deep Silver; formerly published by THQ

_Saints Row: The Third_, its characters and any other related property belongs to Deep Silver Volition and Deep Silver

A/N: This is my first _Saints Row _fanfic_, _so constructive criticism is appreciated. For the most part, this fic will follow the exact events that occur in _Saints Row: The Third_, though there will be differences when the time calls for it.

* * *

_Conquest: the story of human history._

_Since time immemorial, great leaders have risen from humble beginnings to…_

…_do shit._

_And so it was with the __**THIRD STREET SAINTS**__. Since conquering Stilwater, the once small-time street gang has evolved into a media empire._

_A Saints movie is in development, __**JOHNNY GAT**__ and __**SHAUNDI**__ are pop culture icons, and Pierce…_

…_well, who gives a fuck about Pierce?_

_The point is, the Saints are on the world stage, and every criminal organization wants to take their crown._

_It was only a matter of time before one of them took the fight to the Saints…_

* * *

**When Good Heists Go Bad…**

In an elevator at the Stilwater 1st National Bank, an unknown brown-haired man displayed a commercial to Johnny Gat and Shaundi, two of the Saints' top lieutenants, for the recently-released Saints Flow energy drink on his smartphone, displaying fellow Saints lieutenant Pierce Washington, by taking a sip of the energy drink while being brutalized by several thugs, effortlessly gaining the ability to fend off the thugs using _Dragon Ball Z_-like attacks and dunk a basketball into a hoop shortly thereafter, then striking a pose with the can, yelling "Super-excellent!" as colorful Japanese symbols filled the screen.

"Japanese commercials: easiest money you'll ever make," the man confidently stated, his attitude suggesting the commercial was his idea. In response to the advertisement, Shaundi slightly shook her head in disgust while Johnny appeared as though he couldn't have cared less about the advertisement. She honestly thought the nature of the commercial was outright ridiculous, to say the least, but if it sells, then it sells, apparently. After dismissing the commercial as an afterthought, Johnny reached down to the brown duffel bag placed in front of the trio and pulled two glistening silver pistols from its insides: two .45 Shepherds, to be exact, which was the trademark pistol and an outright essential weapon for any Saint.

"Grand larceny's right up there," he replied as he handed the two silver pistols to the man. When it came to making money, he always preferred doing it the old-school way: by raising hell and ultimately stirring shit up. Johnny then pulled a TEZ K-10, another trademark Saint gun of choice, out of the bag. "You ready for this?" He asked him as he handed the submachine gun to Shaundi.

"No worries," the man coolly replied while twirling the pistols in his hands as if they were toys, "I do my own stunts," and placed the two .45 Shepherds in the empty sockets of the pistol holsters that were attached to his jeans.

Shaundi scoffed to herself after witnessing the actor's behavior. She could already tell she wasn't going to like this guy. "Hey, you're just a ride-along, man," she coldly remarked to him while checking the submachine gun to ensure it was loaded and tuning the voice changer hooked over her choker, "so don't get all Hong Kong-style in there."

"I am a method actor!" He replied in a confident tone once more while giving her a stern look with his dull, brown eyes. "If I'm gonna portray a Saint with any degree of emotional truth," he continued while also tuning his voice changer placed on his neck, "I've gotta make it real!" He finished while Shaundi scoffed in disgust, as if saying "Oh, please…" which wasn't too far off from what she was thinking.

Suddenly, the doors of an elevator opened, revealing the boss of the Third Street Saints. "Trust me, Birk," he calmly reassured the actor in an unrecognizable tone while cocking a TEK Z-10 in his hands, "it'll be real," he finished as he placed the loaded gun to his side.

Birk was nearly taken completely aback by the boss' appearance and voice. Not only did his voice changer make his voice sound completely compared to himself and the boss' lieutenants in terms of how the device morphed it, but he was dressed in a mascot outfit that completely resembled Johnny Gat from head-to-toe, except that it was intentionally oversized for comedic effect and appeared to be bearing a color scheme that was extremely vibrant compared to the duller colors of the original outfit it resembled. Behind him, Johnny and Shaundi were placing their identical mascot masks on as well, which were contained inside the duffel bag under the guns that Johnny had previously pulled out.

"You're robbing a bank… dressed as yourselves?" He asked in a curious tone, unsure of whether to currently view the vault theft seriously or as a joke. Behind his mask, Johnny smirked and nodded his now-oversized head at Birk's question. "Hell yeah, who _doesn't _wanna be Johnny Gat?" He answered in his disguised voice.

With that comment from Johnny, a wild grin suddenly stretched Birk's lips. "Ultra-post modernism…" he replied while placing his own Johnny Gat mascot mask over his head, effectively concealing his face. "I love it!" Having fallen in love with the Saints' idea, he suddenly found great enjoyment in performing the vault theft in this manner, and with that being said, the four began approached the doors heading into the bank's main hall. While nearing said doors, Shaundi couldn't help but feel _even more_ annoyed by Birk's arrogance than previously before.

"Listen, boss," she began, "I'm cool with the Saints movie, but do we really have to drag this asshole actor around?" She asked the boss in a slightly annoyed tone, being sure to place enough emphasis on 'asshole' to let Birk know what she truly thought about him.

The boss immediately reacted to her remark with a simple wave of his pink-gloved hand. "Cut Josh some slack, he's just researching his part," he replied in a way that made it seem like he was trying to tune her out.

"Ugh… I hope he signed a waiver," Shaundi responded in slight defeat, realizing that arguing with the boss wouldn't change a damn thing.

Once the three Saints and Birk were within the main hall of the Stilwater 1st National Bank, the boss fired some warning shots with his TEK Z-10 to catch the attention of everyone else present in the hall. This seemingly prompted Birk to jump onto the reception desk, as if filming for a movie had begun, and it was his cue to take action.

"Nobody moves, nobody dies!" He evilly exclaimed while pointing his pistols at the receptionist, causing her eyes to widen and immediately raise her arms in surrender and panic without a moment's hesitation.

"_Birk_!" Johnny yelled, seemingly annoyed at the actor's action. It seemed that for Johnny, Birk had either done something wrong or just happened to piss him off. Knowing Johnny, it wouldn't have been a surprise if the latter was closer to the truth.

"Sorry, jumped his line," Birk quickly apologized. His next question, "Can we… uh, go again?" prompted Johnny and Shaundi to quickly facepalm at his behavior, acting as though it was possible to perform a retake. Meanwhile, the boss was ignoring the actor's stupidity and remained completely focused on the vault theft. "Alright people, you all know the drill," the boss announced as he slowly approached the front desk, but noticed a fan who wanted a picture.

"Can I get a picture with the boss?" The fan asked upon viewing the boss, who was nearing his way.

Shaundi walked in front of the fan who was now standing next to the boss, already smiling for the camera. "Say 'sleaze'!" She replied while taking the picture with her iPhone. Meanwhile, Birk was now at the boss' intended location, the booths in the back of the bank's main hall, threatening an old lady with one of the .45 Shepherds previously provided by Johnny. "Get in line, _bitch_!" He yelled at the elderly woman with the pistol pointed directly at her face, the barrel only inches away from touching it.

"Hey, don't be a _dick_!" Shaundi shouted at him, placing a sharp emphasis on 'dick'. Despite being just as guilty with crimes as much as her fellow lieutenants and the boss himself, she found threatening harmless people, especially senior citizens, to be classless and cruel. They never meant any harm, so why harm them in the first place?

"You guys call yourselves gangbangers?" Birk mocked the trio, criticizing how they were acting nothing like they used to, especially Shaundi's retort. "You're a bunch of pussies!" He then cocked his pistols and turned around in a stealth-like manner, ready to kill the elderly woman as if he was Solid Snake. "We should all be up in their shit like-"

Birk cut himself off when he noticed that the old lady whom he previously threatened had suddenly pulled out a pistol of her own, pointed right at the gap between his eyebrows, ready to blow his brains out. However, upon closer inspection, the pistol the lady wielded was identified as being different in size and color from the .45 Shepherd they always used. It was a KA-1 Kobra, the preferred pistol of choice for law enforcement, and the lady was beginning to pull the trigger.

"FUCK!" He exclaimed in panic as he immediately ducked, avoiding the incoming bullet by mere inches. The sound of the KA-1 Kobra going off instantly caught the attention of Johnny, Shaundi, and the boss, as each person standing behind the booths each had their own KA-1 Kobra loaded. Hearing sudden footsteps, they locked their eyes onto the upper staircase in the background and noticed figures heading toward their level, silhouetted by the windows that shielded them from danger.

"Well, that's different…" The boss said in an observant tone, noticing the action occurring around him and the others. Without any hesitation, the four retreated for cover behind the receptionist desk to avoid the eventual gunfire. Unfortunately, they didn't have a plan.

Or did they?

"You got a plan or are we just shooting all these motherfuckers?" Johnny asked the boss.

"That _is _my plan." He replied, the claim being all but truthful.

Johnny didn't buy the boss' reply at first, but went along with it anyway due to his insane craving for murder. "Works for me!" He shouted as he stood to punch the nearest person in the face, who was one of the bank's security guards, and used him as a human shield. Johnny's action had prompted the others to stand on their feet, and together they engaged in a battle that involved a large exchange of bullets from the Saints' TEZ K-10s, Birk's .45 Shepherds, and the bank's KA-1 Kobras.

As the battle in the bank started, Johnny interrogated one of the bank's male employees.

"Where's the vault?!" He exclaimed at the man with a hand on his neck, threatening to choke his life out if he didn't give the correct answer.

"Go to Hell," the man instantly retorted.

The insult immediately pissed Johnny off, causing him to retort with "You wanna play, motherfucker?" and blasted the man away, sending his lifeless body crashing into one of the bank's large statues, which resembled a horse, for some strange reason.

"Oh my God, Johnny!" Shaundi exclaimed at Johnny's actions with widened eyes as the statue crashed to the ground. "You _seriously _couldn't wait to kill that guy until we found out who he was?"

Johnny chose not to respond, and dismissed her question with an "Eh," and returned to increasing his kill count. The more, the merrier.

Birk, still crouched behind the bank's front desk, began to panic and muttered things such as "Uh… we're gonna die, aren't we?"

Shaundi silently laughed at the actor's change in behavior. "What happened to 'I do my own stunts'?" The boss mocked him in the meantime, somewhat disgusted yet somewhat amused by his reactions to the bank heist.

"Hey, do these look like _scripts_ to you?" Birk tried to defend himself, realizing that the vault theft was for real and not just some publicity stunt, which was what he was normally used to. Ignoring the actor's reply and noticing all the dead bodies in the bank's main hall, the boss, Shaundi, and Johnny rushed for the doors located behind the desk, with Birk slowly following suit. Within the next room, the four all stood side-by-side, and Birk had gained a sudden speed boost to become the closest to the double doors in front of them.

"Alright, you fuckers," he arrogantly readied himself to kick the doors open, "WE'RE COMIN' FOR YA!" Birk readied himself by placing a leg up for the kick, and struck the door, only to fall backwards in pain. Apparently his cocky attitude had gotten the best of him.

"Oh Jesus!" Birk winced while lying on the ground, clutching his leg in agony. Behind him, Shaundi, Johnny and the boss could be clearly seen facepalming at the actor's pathetic failure. While clearly hurting on the ground, Johnny looked down at his predicament and briefly flashed a smirk at his misery. "Birk, step back and let the pros show you how it's done, alright?" He asked yet seemingly threatened the actor at the same time. In the same spot where Birk once stood, Johnny effortlessly kicked the double doors open with his leg without a second of hesitation. The next room at the Stilwater 1st National Bank contained more bank employees who were armed with the exact same weapons as the employees in the previous room. Once the employees were in close range, the Saints continued their attack.

"I can't believe you launched that guy into a statue," Shaundi recalled the event to Johnny while shooting down some employees with her TEZ K-10.

"I can't believe you're still thinking about it," he replied in a comedic tone.

"Do you want to know who these people are?" Shaundi questioned Johnny in an almost threatening manner, something uncharacteristic for her to threaten him.

"_Listen_," the boss announced in a harsh tone, wanting the distracting bickering between the two to end, "all that matters is the vault. Let's find that and get the _hell_ outta here." This prompted Shaundi and Johnny to cease their bickering and return their focus to the mission. As the three ran up the stairs in front of them, Birk was suddenly keeping up with them once more due to yet another random speed boost. "Is this what bank robberies are normally like for you guys?" He asked in-between heavy breaths.

"Not really. Normally, the tellers don't use _fucking shotguns_," Johnny replied, noticing how different this bank heist was compared to a normal one. Something definitely wasn't right here. Shaundi noticed the strangeness as well, and decided to pipe in. "Normally banks don't look like a _palace_, either. Did you see those statues before you blew them up?"

"Will you forget the horses?" Johnny snapped at her in an irritated manner. "These guards are packing _military-grade_ hardware!"

"Who the hell are we robbing?" The boss asked, shooting down men who were now dressed like classy Europeans in black, red and pink. "A bunch of assholes!" Johnny instantly replied, assisting with the boss' shootout.

On the next flight of stairs, Shaundi was engaged in a battle of tug o' war with one of the Europeans over her TEK Z-10. The battle subsequently ended with Shaundi shoving the man against the wall and shooting his guts out with the SMG. Once the battle ended, Shaundi and the boss ran into the next room to find Birk clutching his knees with his hands and breathing heavily from exhaustion.

"I can't breathe," Birk stated, now kneeling on the carpet.

Shaundi replied by storming into the room and hastily removing his Johnny Gat mascot mask from his head while she did the same to her own but at a slower pace. Meanwhile, Johnny was standing directly in front of the vault, his mask removed as well, trying to crack it open with his bare fists, but to no avail.

"There's no way we're crackin' this thing," Johnny announced. "Ready for Plan B?"

The boss nodded in reply and ordered Birk over to his position.

"Got the tools right over here, homes," he said, removing the sack full of tools from his back. The boss forced the sack open, revealing its contents inside. "So, what's Plan B? We drill it?" He asked. "Fuck no. We blow it," Johnny stated with a chuckle, becoming excited over the change of plans.

"_What_?!" Birk gasped in surprise, eyes agape while the boss removed the contents from the sack. "Not cool, man!" The boss ended up removing a satchel charge from the sack. "Time to get to work," he announced, clutching the satchel charge in his hand.

"We'll need to set those above the vault," the boss stated as he ran up the stairs behind the others. "Hey… I think we've got company," Birk said, noticing more of the European goons at the top of the next flight of stairs. "It looks like they're coming in from the lobby," Shaundi added, preparing her TEZ K-10 once more.

"Shaundi," Birk randomly called out her name.

"What?" She immediately asked, annoyed at his very mention of her name.

"We… we need to talk," he suddenly announced, acting as though they were living their last seconds on Earth together.

"No, we don't." She immediately dismissed him with a sharp glare, not wanting to be bothered by him, or in this case, pissed off at him once more. Unfortunately, to her disappointment, he didn't properly receive the message and continued with his mindless banter. "It's just that if either of us die here, I don't want things to go… unsaid."

"I should be so lucky…" she coldly and sarcastically muttered under her breath.

As the boss entered the next room and ignored the bickering between the two, a woman dressed in Saints gear was standing with a magazine in her hand. Once he entered the room, she couldn't contain her excitement.

"Oh my God, you're the _Saints_! You have to sign this for me!" She shouted with glee, holding the magazine out to the boss. "Hey, anything for a fan," the boss said as he happily signed the magazine.

Suddenly, Birk, seemingly out of nowhere, was standing next to the girl and the boss. "Hey, I'm Josh Birk," he introduced. "Don't be starstruck, I'm very approachable. Do you want me to… sign your breasts?"

"Uh, no, that's alright," the girl calmly replied, "but I'd definitely be starstruck to get an autograph from Shaundi!"

"Aww, I'd be happy to sign that for you," Shaundi said as she entered the room and signed the magazine, placing her signature right next to the boss'. "Here you go," she said, giving the magazine back to the girl. "Now, you might wanna go, because we're about to blow up a bank vault, and we don't want any bystanders getting hurt," she calmly told her.

"Alright, thanks," she said, nodding toward Shaundi and running downstairs for the exit.

Immediately after that exchange ended, the boss set the satchel charge right below the vault and ignited it, creating a deafening explosion that partially destroyed the bank's roof and the floor above the vault. During the explosion, the three Saints and Birk ducked for cover to be safe, and the actor noticed a large, red button protruding from the bottom of one of the work desks. It was the button that, when pressed, would set off the bank's alarm for the SWAT Team.

At the same time, Shaundi, Johnny and the boss took notice of the gaping hole in the roof caused by the explosion, giving them a clear view of the Stilwater Hotel. "Let's get the chopper and lift this baby outta here," the boss stated, wanting to finally retrieve the vault.

"Hey guys, you can call off the helicopter; I've found a way to open the vault!" Birk happily announced to the Saints in a false tone. Johnny, who immediately knew the actor was lying and realized what he was referring to by 'opening the vault', yelled at Birk to not touch it but his order was ignored the second he uttered a single word, as a blaring alarm could be heard all throughout the bank, signaling the SWAT Team's arrival.

"Josh, are you trying to get us all jail time?" Shaundi angrily demanded, a finger pointed directly at him.

"What?" Birk asked in a falsely confused tone, briefly raising his arms. "I don't wanna be some dude's bitch!" He claimed as he dashed away from the scene, quietly laughing at his success.

"Do I have to go after him?" Shaundi impatiently asked Johnny.

"Forget about it, Shaundi, he'll be fine," he dismissed her. "We'll deal with him later."

"How long will it be until the chopper gets here?" Shaundi asked the boss, changing the subject.

"I don't know, probably after, like, two waves of SWAT guys?" He guessed.

"Good guess. That sounds about right," she agreed.

Near the windows, or where they once stood, armored SWAT Team members began descending from their black ropes to confront the Saints. Upon landing, a flashbang was tossed into the room, temporarily blinding the trio to give the SWAT Team the upper hand. However, just like the people who previously stood before them, they were easily killed by the three Saints, who were easily able to stand their ground. Following this were more SWAT Team members who replaced them.

"Just like old times, right Shaundi?" Johnny asked his fellow lieutenant while in the middle of combat.

"I'm gonna _kill_ Birk if I see him again!" Shaundi shouted as she stood her ground, and at the same time nodding and smiling at Johnny's question.

"Aww, I thought you two really had something going there," the boss jokingly mocked.

"Oh, don't even go there," she commanded, annoyed at the boss' humor.

"Hey, just sayin'…" He trailed off, and returned his attention to the action.

Once again, more SWAT Team members entered the remains of the bank, except this time they were each armed with grenades, forcing Shaundi, Johnny and the boss to take cover. After the explosions subsided, they returned to their work as if it never happened.

"I haven't had this much fun in years!" Johnny excitedly exclaimed with a laugh, enjoying the absolute hell they were currently raising. "The chopper should be here soon," he suddenly stated in a calmer tone. "We've just gotta hold out for a little longer."

Following Johnny opening his mouth, more SWAT Team members busted upon the scene. "They've busted out the riot shields," Shaundi announced. "Fantastic." She sarcastically added.

After that remark, an attack helicopter suddenly rose from the ground in the front of the bank's gaping hole.

"A _fucking_ attack chopper?" Shaundi outbursted while killing off the remaining on-foot SWAT Team members.

"Seriously, who _are_ these guys?" The boss asked as he diverted his attention to the attack helicopter and began shooting at it with his TEZ K-10 while it fired back with missiles.

"A bunch of assholes," Johnny remarked for the second time while assisting the boss in destroying the helicopter. Shaundi joined in as well and the helicopter was beginning show signs of damage from being shot by the three Saints. However, it was still able to fight back, this time barraging the trio with machine gun rounds.

At the same time, a different helicopter arrived with a strange add-on, its arrival signified by Shaundi's announcement of "Here's our ride," now making it clear that this helicopter was meant for carrying the vault out of the bank, as its attachment had three large, steel hooks hanging from its ends, as the boss ran toward the vault and attached the hooks to it, at the same time signaling for the helicopter to begin its ascent with a "Go! Go! Go!"

"You two go out the back," he ordered to Shaundi and Johnny, who were in the midst of shooting more SWAT Team members. Just when they thought they were dead…

"And you?" Shaundi asked.

"I'm staying with the vault," he replied.

"We'll see you when we touchdown. Be careful," she added, as she and Johnny ran for the stairs. Surprisingly, the lower floors of the bank weren't full of SWAT Team members and instead remained just as they had left it: quiet and filled with dead bodies. The silence of the bank was then interrupted by the massive amounts of gunfire and explosions originating outside. From Shaundi's point of view, she had no idea what was going on, but what she _did _know was that it didn't sound very good.

"Do you think the boss will be alright, Johnny?" She asked him, a bit of worry audible in her voice.

"I wouldn't worry about him too much, Shaundi. Remember when we fought Ultor a couple years back?" He asked her in response. "This should be a walk in the park for him," he added, hoping to lighten up her mood.

She nodded and smiled lightly. "Yeah, you're right. I should be more faithful in him."

Suddenly, a loud _CRASH! _could be heard from inside the bank, causing Shaundi and Johnny to sprint out its front doors to possibly discover what had caused the noise, only to be surrounded by an absolute swarm of SWAT Team members, this time the numbers being much higher than they could handle.

"This publicity stunt is over. Place your hands above your heads, and turn around," one of the members ordered to Shaundi and Johnny. He then focused his attention on Shaundi and added, "especially you, Shaundi. My son wants to meet you, and Troy isn't bailing you guys out of this one."

Shaundi could only stare the member down briefly before being forced to turn around as she and Johnny were handcuffed behind their backs.

"Well, shit," she muttered under her breath.

* * *

Well, that's it for the first chapter. This fic will also stay as true to _Saints Row: The Third_ not just event-wise, but also dialogue-wise. Please feel free to leave a review and let me know what you thought about it.


	2. I'm Free - Freely Descending

So far, I've got two people with this fic in their favorites, four people following it, one review, and one person following me. Thank you so much for the support! I'll be sure not to let you guys down.

* * *

**I'm Free – Freely Descending**

At the Stilwater Penitentiary, Shaundi and Johnny were escorted not by members of the SWAT Team, but instead by officers of the Stilwater Police Department, to their jail cell. During the escort, news about the faces of the Third Street Saints being sent to prison immediately caught the attention of the general populous of the prison like flies to a bright light. While slowly dragging their feet through the halls of the penitentiary, the two Saints lieutenants listened to the remarks that other prisoners lashed out at them. Most of the remarks were lashed out toward Shaundi, as they found her to be a much easier target to pick on than Johnny because of her well-known past, and even though he was currently handcuffed, the prisoners were deeply afraid of what would happen if the notorious Johnny Gat was free to do what he wished with them if they gave him nothing but hell.

Once they reached the nearest empty jail cell, Shaundi and Johnny were forcefully shoved into the cell as the door was slammed and locked right in front of their faces. While in the cell, the two took a brief look at their surroundings, which consisted of rusty, beaten-up steel bunker beds, a sink that look broken beyond repair, and a toilet that didn't leave any privacy for a man nor a woman.

Johnny chose to sit down and cross his legs in the very back of the cell while Shaundi did the same. If they were to be confined in prison for quite some time, they might as well have relaxed while they still could.

"I can't believe we got arrested by those assholes," Johnny flatly stated. "When's the last time that ever happened to us?"

Shaundi shrugged her shoulders in response. "I don't know, but what I _do _know is that this is all Birk's fault, and I'm gonna kill him the next time I see him!" She began to get a little angry; actually, 'a little' was a bit of an understatement in this case.

Seeing as he was sitting right next to her, Johnny placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about him, Shaundi. He's just some little prick who probably thinks he's tough shit now that he got us in prison, but don't worry, because when the time comes, he'll get what he deserves, and you'll be there to give it to him."

Shaundi turned and smiled at him. "Thanks Johnny, that really means a lot."

"My pleasure," was all Johnny could say before the boss was suddenly shoved into the cell to join them.

"I take it they got to you guys first?" The boss somewhat curiously asked them. His two lieutenants nodded in reply.

Suddenly, the three Saints found themselves being interrupted with a sharp, abrupt "Ahem," causing them to turn to the originator of the sound. In front of them stood six of the many familiar-looking figures that they saw at the Stilwater 1st National Bank, led by two new individuals. The two new individuals were two female twins who looked absolutely identical in appearance, except that one of the twins was wearing white sunglasses, while the other's sunglasses were pink.

"I'm sorry for the interruption, but allow us to introduce ourselves," the twin with the white sunglasses began. "My name is Viola DeWynter, and my twin sister here is Kiki DeWynter. The armed men and women around us represent the Morning Star. If you'll kindly follow us, we'll take you to your new destination."

Despite her somewhat kind demeanor, the three Saints had no choice but to comply with Viola's orders, otherwise they would have likely been shot on sight.

* * *

In an airplane flying over a currently unknown location, Shaundi, Johnny, and the boss were placed in what appeared to be a small conference room, with a shady figure's back being rudely turned to them in the process. At the same time, the trio found themselves placed in chairs imbedded into the ground with their hands forcefully tied behind their backs. Once they were sat down, the figure revealed himself to be a gray-haired man, who was dressed in a similar fashion to that of his mooks, but yet in a way that made it obvious he was the leader of the group.

"Do you have _any idea_ who you're fucking with here?" The boss hastily and angrily asked the man, not wanting to bear the silence any longer.

"Of course!" The man immediately answered in an extremely thick French accent, as Viola placed a Johnny Gat bobblehead on the left arm of his chair. "A remarkable license. I am Phillipe Loren, and I am chairman of a multinational organization called The Syndicate."

"Never heard of it," Shaundi retorted in a somewhat bored tone.

"Evidently not," Phillipe continued, "or you would not have robbed our bank." He then took a puff from his cigarette and exhaled. "Perhaps you wonder why you're still breathing at this point?" He queried.

_We robbed _their_ bank? That explains why those horse statues felt out of place, _Shaundi thought to herself.

"Actually, I wonder why my foot's not up your ass at this point," Johnny countered in a threatening tone.

With this, Phillipe stood up and slowly walked toward the trio, not the least bit phased by the mass murderer's threat. "Like it or not, Mr. Gat, our organization is expanding into Stilwater. I am offering you the chance to leverage your assets against your lives," he stated as he gestured toward Viola and Kiki, who were presenting a pie chart on the projection board to the trio. A small fraction of the pie chart was purple, which represented the Saints, and the remaining larger fraction was pink, and it, in return, represented The Syndicate. "Ladies?"

Viola began to explain the purpose of the chart. "You may continue to operate the Saints-Ultor Media Group as you see fit, in exchange for sixty-six percent of your monthly gross revenue."

"That is _before_ taxes, of course," Kiki chimed in.

The boss could only look at Phillipe and the twins with utter disgust. "Listen, you French _fuck_…" He began, but was interrupted by Phillipe, who casually corrected him by saying "Please! I am Belgian," as if he was accustomed to the insult.

"So make yourself a fuckin' waffle! We're done here." Johnny, equally disgusted as the boss, decided to cut things short.

Phillipe once again walked toward the three, disappointed in their overall choice. "Tch, and I had so hoped to come to a rational business arrangement…" With that remark, he signaled for one of his Morning Star mooks to shoot Johnny pointblank in the forehead with a .45 Shepherd, only for Johnny to pull the chair from the ground with his own physical strength and take down the Morning Star mook with a headbutt and kill him with a fatal blow to the temple.

Phillipe, standing right behind Johnny, readied his pocket knife and stabbed Johnny in the gut with it, temporarily halting him, but not long enough as he took the Belgian's head and bashed it against one of the airplane's windows, shattering the glass and causing the plane to begin decompressing as wild winds began to flood the room. At the same time, Johnny ran over to the boss and Shaundi, who were still tied down to their respective chairs and freed them, while Viola and Kiki attended to Phillipe's wounded eye and fled the room.

"Boss, you've gotta bail!" Johnny shouted while pointing at the boss.

"_No_! Not without _you_!" The boss refused. At the same time, more Morning Star mooks entered the room, immediately unleashing gunfire upon the three Saints and causing them to duck for cover.

"That's like, what, half a dozen guys? I can take 'em," Johnny confidently stated while the mooks continued to fire.

"What about the plane?" Shaundi asked him.

"I'll fly it back to Stilwater," Johnny replied.

"Johnny, you can't even drive _stick_!" Shaundi loudly retorted over the heavy gunfire. "How are you gonna fly a _plane_?"

"Details, details… just cover the boss. Go! I've got this," Johnny finished as he took the TEZ K-10 of one of the approaching mooks and used it against him and the others, giving Shaundi and the boss enough time to escape from the room.

Once Shaundi and the boss were in another room, they briefly took a breather and continued on their way through the plane, but the breather didn't last long as the room was filled with more Morning Star mooks.

"We can't leave Johnny!" Shaundi stated as she swiftly punched a female mook in the face.

"Gat's fine, Shaundi. He can handle himself, because we have these guys to worry about." The boss responded by tripping a male mook off his feet and punching him in the temple, ending his life.

As if on cue, more Morning Star mooks entered the room, ready to brawl against Shaundi and the boss. As the two Saints readied themselves for another assault, a familiar spoke over the airplane's loudspeakers.

"_Attention passengers, this is your new captain speaking," _Johnny's voice resounded over the speakers. _"Our updated flight plan has us landin' in Stilwater." _Immediately after Johnny's announcement, Phillipe could be heard over the same speakers, sounding like he was swearing in Flemish or some language like that. One could assume that he and Johnny were fighting over the mic. After seemingly fighting Phillipe off for the moment, Johnny's voice resounded from the speakers once more. _"I'd like to remind all passengers to remain seated… and enjoy the flight."_

"Great, who gave Gat a mic?" The boss rhetorically asked Shaundi, ignoring Phillipe's swearing. Naturally, Shaundi didn't respond, seeing as it was a rhetorical question, and returned to kicking some more Morning Star ass. Over the speakers, Johnny and Phillipe's struggle continued, with Phillipe swearing in his native tongue once more.

"_Oh, I can see some of our passengers are getting restless," _Johnny noted, amused by Phillipe's irritated behavior. _"Here's some relaxin' music for your enjoyment."_

With that, the song "We're Leaving Today" by Paul Louis Reeves began playing over the speakers as Shaundi and the boss dashed throughout the various rooms of the plane, until the plane violently shifted in a new direction, causing the two to be slammed against the wall.

"_My apologies," _Johnny stated during the turn, _"your captain is havin' troubles findin' the clutch,"_ and returned the plane to its normal state, allowing the two Saints to surprisingly return to their venture without any injuries. In one room, a Morning Star mook was armed with to .45 Shepherds. Shaundi and the boss successfully killed the mook by evading the bullets, and they each took one of the pistols and reloaded them for when they were ready.

Eventually, the two found themselves in the cargo area of the plane, which was armed to the core with Morning Star mook and Syndicate vehicles.

"_I'm opening the cargo bay doors!" _Johnny sharply announced to Shaundi and the boss. _"Find some chutes and jump out the back. It should be clear!"_

Phillipe returned to where Johnny was, and their fighting continued once more.

"_Alright, motherfuckers!" _Johnny announced to the Belgian and his crew. _"You're gonna need more help than that, Frenchie."_

"_I. Am. _BELGIAN_!" _Phillipe shouted at Johnny, putting great emphasis in the punctuation.

"_SAME THING!" _Johnny countered.

"_I am going to cut that disrespectful tongue from your mouth," _Phillipe finalized, no longer wanting to tolerate Johnny's ignorance, regardless of whether it was intentional or not.

"_Oh yeah? You and how many of your-"_

Johnny was then interrupted by what sounded like more armed figures entering the area.

"_Oh, that many."_

Within time, Shaundi and the boss reached the end of the cargo bay, where the boss found a parachute and strapped it onto his shoulders. Unfortunately, it was the only parachute in sight. At the same time, Shaundi dashed over to the radio that was connected to the wall and pushed the button down to communicate with Johnny.

"Johnny, we're about to jump!" She informed him. Over their end, Johnny could be heard angrily grunting as he fought the Morning Star. _"Right on," _he replied on his end. "_I'll see you in Stil-"_

Gunfire was heard on the other end of the radio, and only static could be heard residing from it on their end. "Johnny?" Shaundi called his name, sounding like she was going to tear up.

Almost out of instinct, the boss changed his mind about wearing the parachute, unstrapped it, and gave it to Shaundi.

"Boss, what are you _doing_?" Shaundi asked him, deeply surprised at his behavior. The boss passed the parachute to Shaundi and had her hold it in her hands. "I'm going to go see what happened to Johnny," he stated in a completely serious tone. "Now Shaundi, I don't know if I'll ever see you again, but if I do, I want to let you know that… that…"

Shaundi's eyes widened at his sudden change in behavior. "What is it, boss?"

The boss instead decided to let his actions speak for themselves, and locked his lips with Shaundi's. She was initially confused at his sudden change in behavior, but immediately realized that he was letting his actions speak for themselves, and she settled on returning the favor. However, the plane began shaking once more, and he realized he needed to act fast, and forcefully ended the kiss between him and his female lieutenant.

"Now, go!" The boss ordered to Shaundi as she strapped on the parachute. Before she could say anything in response, the boss noticed she was about to turn around, and settled on somewhat forcefully, yet unexpectedly shoving her off the plane. However, the boss made sure his last words to her were likely the most important words she'd ever hear from him:

"Tell Pierce and the others you're the new boss!"

After those closing words, she engaged the parachute, and slowly drifted downward as the parachute safely descended her toward the skies of the city known as Steelport, the city that would eventually become the new home of not only the Third Street Saints, but Shaundi's new home as not one of its lieutenants, but instead its new boss.

* * *

Back on Phillipe's plane, which was still flying in the skies above Steelport, he had returned to the chair he had been previously positioned during his initial meeting with the Saints. However, this time his appearance somewhat differed from before. Now sporting on his face was a black eyepatch, covering his left eye after Johnny had damaged it after bashing his face against one of the plane's windows.

Alongside him, Viola and Kiki were laying out the now-dead bodies of the former boss of the Saints and Johnny Gat before returning to their previous positions, standing side-by-side next to Phillipe.

While sitting back in his chair, the Belgian man flipped a switch that turned the screen that previously displayed the pie graph into a projection, displaying two unknown figures on the screen. They seemed to be accomplices of Phillipe.

"Gentlemen, negotiations were… less than successful," he announced to the two. "Viola and Kiki will spread the word: Steelport belongs to The Syndicate, and the Saints are not welcome."

He then specifically turned his attention to the bulky-figured man, whose face was displayed on the right side of the screen.

"Mr. Killbane, gather your Luchadores, and bring me Shaundi's head!"

After that, he turned his attention to the younger, thinner-looking man on the left.

"Mr. Miller, hack into the Saints' accounts and leave them _nothing_!"

The two happily promised to carry out their duties before Phillipe ended the transmission between the three of them.

"Welcome to Steelport, Saints," he sarcastically stated to no one in particular. "I hope you enjoy your stay."

* * *

Just so everyone knows, the next couple chapters will be a little shorter than the first, as there will still be action occurring in them, but there will also be a good amount of dialogue.


	3. An Unfriendly Welcome

So far, I now have three positive reviews of this fic, three favorites, and six follows. It's great to hear that you guys are really liking the fic so far, so thank you very much.

Also, like I stated at the end of the second chapter, this chapter, along with the next one, will be a little shorter than the first two. There will still be action occurring in these two chapters, but there will also be a decent amount of original dialogue.

* * *

**An Unfriendly Welcome**

Upon landing in Steelport, Shaundi's mind was filled with mixed feelings.

On one hand, she had been personally promoted by the boss himself to become the new leader of the Third Street Saints, which made her extremely excited.

On the other hand, the result of her promotion had been the deaths of her two best friends, her former boss and Johnny Gat, at the hands of Phillipe Loren and The Syndicate, which made her extremely pissed off.

While reminiscing about what had transpired earlier, her phone had begun to violently vibrate as she checked the caller ID. Despite the fact that his name was not on her list of contacts, Phillipe's name was listed on her lock screen. She immediately tapped the ignore button, prompting the Belgian man to leave a haunting message in her voicemail, which played in-sync as he recorded the message live.

"_The bodies of Mr. Gat and your former boss will be messages for all who oppose The Syndicate. There is no mercy, only death. Don't mourn your friends; you will be joining them soon."_

The message ended shortly thereafter.

_Loren's going to pay for this, _Shaundi thought to herself as she walked over to the nearest ATM machine to withdraw money. _Once I get my hands on him, I'm gonna rip him a new asshole for what he did to Johnny and the boss. There's no way in Hell he's getting away with this._

Normally, the Saints' bank account would be filled with millions of dollars, mainly due to them being worldwide celebrities and having filled out their partnership with the Ultor Corporation a few years ago after killing off Dane Vogel back in Stilwater, but to Shaundi's utter shock, the Saints' bank account had somehow been completely emptied, courtesy of Matt Miller, unbeknownst to her. In the end, not even a single penny remained on their account. This conflict prompted Shaundi to curl up her hand in a fist and punch the ATM's screen as hard as she could.

With this, she instead decided to search for nearest parked car, and once she settled on finding a Torch, she opened the driver's door, sat in the driver's seat, pulled up a map of Steelport on her iPhone, and set a GPS destination for her ex's apartment. She then proceeded to ignite the car's engine, and decided to turn on the radio to hopefully take her mind off of today's events with some music. Fittingly enough, the radio had been tuned to station 106.66, otherwise known as The Blood, and the first song that immediately played was "Down with the Sickness" by Disturbed. It was one of her favorite songs, and it helped her mood greatly as she professionally wove in and out of oncoming traffic.

However, the progress of her mood becoming increasingly positive was unfortunately cut short when she caught a glimpse of red and blue flashing lights in her rear view mirror that grew closer and closer with each passing second, signaling that someone was on her tail.

"Shit, like I _really_ wanted to deal with the fucking cops right now!" Shaundi sarcastically shouted in anger, the sounds of the sirens and the simultaneously pounding bass of Disturbed's famous song making her eardrums wanting to explode in the process.

Without any hesitation, she shifted the Torch into its cruise control mode, allowing the gas pedal to do its work on its own as she rolled down her window and stuck her head out, pulling the .45 Shepherd she retrieved from the plane out of her holster and pointed it at the police car that was quickly gaining speed. Shaundi then pulled the pistol's trigger, hoping the bullet would meet the head of the driver, but instead it met the windshield, causing damage to the glass as it shattered, but not quite reaching the target she had intended.

Despite the broken windshield and the driver behind the police car now being a more noticeable target, the car itself was again gaining speed, weaving in and out of traffic much like Shaundi had done so earlier. The officer in the passenger's seat chose to reply to her bullet with a bullet of his own, courtesy of his KA-1 Kobra. It wasn't as powerful as the .45 Shepherd she wielded, but it was far more efficient when it came to the shooter's accuracy. The provided accuracy of the KA-1 Kobra was utilized when the officer fired a bullet at the right rear tire of Shaundi's Torch, flattening the rubber right when she was about to make a right turn and instead causing her to collide with the nearest bus that was headed in the same direction.

Due to not wearing a seat belt, Shaundi was nearly launched forwards by the impact her sports car made with the bus, and she found herself trying to re-cooperate in the driver's seat. Her vision had gotten slightly blurry from the crash, but she was somehow able to open the door and step out of it, turning around to notice the police car that had stopped to a screeching halt as the two officers exited the car to confront her, their KA-1 Kobras armed and ready to fire. In the meantime, Shaundi's .45 Shepherd was still armed, signaling that she wasn't going down without a fight…

…a fight that lasted relatively two seconds.

Although the officer in the passenger's seat was able to blast one of her tires, he wasn't as capable at shooting a human target, despite the fact that he was currently standing directly in front of said human target. A shot to the left and a shot to the right were fired from his pistol, both shots completely missing Shaundi by several feet. His amateur, but continued persistence was really starting to piss her off even more than before, rather than make her laugh at his incompetence.

"Do you even know how to shoot a human target, you dumbass?" She verbally mocked the officer. The officer chose to answer with another missed bullet. "Allow me to demonstrate," Shaundi stated as she pointed the .45 Shepherd at the officer's forehead, and fired a shot that flew directly through the center of it, ending his life in a bloody mess within two seconds.

The officer who had been driving the car, meanwhile, continued to point his identical KA-1 Kobra at the new boss of the Third Street Saints, but didn't dare to fire after what she had just displayed. Shaundi immediately turned her head toward him after killing his "partner", so to speak, and chose to mock him as well.

"Well? Are you going to kill me or what?" She asked, a heeled boot impatiently tapping against the pavement. "I don't have all day."

In a strange move, he chose to recoil in sudden fear and dashed back to his car, only to be met with a bullet to his left ankle, causing him to instantly fall to the ground and clutch his leg in screaming agony.

"You officers just don't get it, _do you_?" Shaundi coldly questioned the downed officer as she slowly stormed toward him, deciding to take her time with the imbecilic officer. "Out of all the days you choose to go after a Saint, you do it _today_ after all the shit that has just happened to us, to _me_?" Once she was standing directly above him, she crouched down and pointed her pistol to the center of his forehead, hoping to kill him in the same manner she did to his "partner". "I've lost _two friends_ within the same day," she stated, fittingly holding up two fingers with the mention of 'two', "and I'm not about to lose any more."

"I'm sorry," the officer quickly replied, hoping to bring out a lighter side in Shaundi as he panicked, "I didn't know you lost some friends and maybe I could help you-"

_BANG!_

The officer's sentenced remained unfinished as his now-lifeless body collapsed to the ground. Shaundi quickly recalled the pistol.

"It's too late. You dumbass cops never learn," she replied to the dead officer, fully aware she wasn't going to receive a response in return. "You're all the same."

After leaving those words to the dead officer, she returned to the Torch, despite the fact that it currently bore a flat tire, and revved the sports car back to life, returning to her previous goal of heading for her ex's apartment. While once again navigating throughout the streets of Steelport, her iPhone began to vibrate violently, and she pulled it out of her pocket to check the caller ID. It was Pierce Washington, one of the Saints' top lieutenants alongside Johnny and herself before the previous events of yesterday. Shaundi decided to answer the phone, as she felt a conversation could possibly help in brightening her mood.

"What's up, Pierce?" She answered with one hand on the steering wheel.

"_Shaundi, I heard on the news that you guys were arrested at the bank," _Pierce stated on the other end. _"What happened? Is everything alright?"_

"It's a long story, but I'll keep it simple: Johnny and the boss are dead," she sadly told him, not having a choice in being the bearer of bad news.

"_They're BOTH dead? Aww shit, this really sucks. Who's the new boss, then?"_

"Before the boss left me to attempt to assist Johnny, he told me I'm the new boss, so that's that, apparently."

On the other end, Pierce could be plainly heard cursing under his breath in disgust at Shaundi's announcement, despite trying to keep quiet about his remarks. She wasn't amused by his attitude in the slightest.

"Listen Pierce, if you're pissed that I'm the boss now, you can bitch at me about it later because I _don't_ have time for it right now. I've had a really shitty day so far," she stated as she decided to end the call, not wanting to bear any more of Pierce's attitude for the rest of the day.

By the time the phone conversation ended, she arrived at her ex's apartment and parked her Torch in the garage and at the same time made a mental note to have the car fixed at a later point while she slowly stormed up the stairs to the apartment's only accessible room. Upon walking in, she noticed it hadn't changed a bit, with the wide variety of weapons lying around, old VHS tapes from long ago almost endlessly stacked on top of the TVs, and the overall room smelling like it hadn't been cleaned in several years. Yep, this was certainly her ex's apartment, all right.

However, she couldn't have cared less about the unsanitary conditions, as a loud yawn escaped from her lips and revealed she had gotten extremely tired from today's events, so she settled on placing the .45 Shepherd on the nearest table, approached the dresser in the corner of the room and pulled the top drawer open, hoping to find some comfortable pajamas to change into. What she found wasn't exactly what she was hoping for, as she found a blank, white t-shirt and a pair of panties, but it would be enough as she shut the door behind her and locked it before changing into the pajamas, not wanting a creeping pervert to catch her in the nude.

Once she had changed her clothing, she folded up her leather jacket, tank top, and leather pants, and placed them in the bottom drawer of the dresser, which was currently empty. As for the heeled boots, she placed them within the same drawer, closed it and opened the door near the kitchen, which contained an old, but comfortable mattress with a blanket and a pillow. With one last yawn, Shaundi again closed the door behind her, laid on the mattress and covered herself in the blanket.

"I need a fucking break," she noted to herself out loud before immediately drifting off in a deep slumber.

* * *

As I previously stated, the next chapter following this one will roughly be the same length, while the chapter following the next will be a bit longer, almost as long as the first chapter.

Once again, thank you to those who are enjoying this fic so far! I'm enjoying writing this just as much as you are reading it.


	4. Meeting with an Old Friend

Guys, words cannot describe how pleased I am to see the positive reception this fic is receiving thus far. I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but thank you so much for the support.

Once again, this is another one of those shorter, dialogue-heavy chapters, but the following chapter should change all of that.

* * *

**Meeting with an Old Friend  
**

The following morning, Shaundi awoke by stretching her arms and slowly standing to her feet. The first thing she had done was check her iPhone to see if she had gotten any important messages or calls. To her utter shock, she had missed several calls from Pierce, who was apparently not getting the message that she didn't want to be bothered with a conversation consisting of him bitching after his disgusted reaction to her becoming the Saints' new boss.

She made a mental note to herself shortly thereafter when she had received several messages from Josh Birk, the actor who was to fully blame for the failed bank heist and their arrest, to kill him the next time she spotted him in sight. He seemingly left her messages shortly after she fell asleep, which didn't really surprise her much; he definitely seemed like the stalker type. All she had to do was listen to one of his messages, and it, along with the rest, were all deleted history shortly afterwards, basically consisting of Birk trying to impress Shaundi by complimenting her looks and personality in several different poetic ways, but instead failing due to constantly mentioning himself and his own "good looks" in the process. In the end, she couldn't understand just how the hell he was such a popular actor, because in her opinion, he couldn't act his way out of a paper bag, and his arrogance sure didn't help his case in her eyes.

Realizing she was spending far too much time loathing Birk, Shaundi quickly dressed into the same outfit she wore yesterday and heated some Pop-Tarts in the microwave. As for drinks, she couldn't find any milk and the only drink that was visible in the fridge was Saints Flow; several cans of Saints Flow, to be exact.

_I guess he was pretty fond of Saints Flow_, Shaundi thought to herself, briefly thinking of her ex.

Surprisingly, she had never tasted the energy drink before and wasn't sure if she would like it, but since it was the only drink available she had no choice but to try it. Once the Pop-Tarts were ready to be eaten, she popped the can open and took a small sip of the drink, only to immediately spit it out in the sink. Personally, she thought it tasted like rotten milk and piss, not that she knew what those tasted like, though. Despite the fact that she was currently content with the Saints being worldwide celebrities and pop culture icons, she honestly felt as though the Saints Flow literally had to go (no rhyme intended).

_Who in the right mind would advertise this _shit_? _She rhetorically asked in her mind, fully aware of the answer.

Before she could begin eating the Pop-Tarts to hopefully remove the foul taste of the energy drink from her mouth, her phone rang for the first time that day. Again checking the caller ID, Pierce's name was shown once more.

_Speaking of Saints Flow…_

"Pierce, if this is about yesterday, I _don't _have time for it," Shaundi immediately snapped over the phone, not wasting any time to jump to conclusions.

"_Relax girl, I'm over that shit," _Pierce casually responded on the other end. _"Anyway, where have you been? I tried calling you all night and you wouldn't answer. Hell, I even got busy signals due to someone named Josh Birk."_

Shaundi audibly sighed at the mention of Birk's name, but Pierce didn't comment on it. "I'm currently in Steelport, which is like Bangkok's abusive father, hanging out at my ex's apartment," she stated. "Do you need the address?"

"_Steelport? You mean that shithole of a city that's a few miles away from Stilwater? I'll have to fly a chopper over there, but yeah, I'll need the address for the apartment."  
_"Alright then. I'll text you the address in a minute and see you when you get here."

"_Sounds good. I'll see you soon," _Pierce finished as he hung up.

Shaundi then hung up on her end and immediately texted the apartment's address to Pierce as she sat down on the couch and crossed her legs. What the hell was she supposed to do now? He probably wouldn't be here within a few hours, and there were no familiar and/or friendly figures to chat with in Steelport considering the two closest friends she ever had died at the hands of a sadistic Belgian bastard, leaving her alone for a few hours. In fact, the mere thought of Phillipe Loren caused her to lose her appetite for the Pop-Tarts and she tossed them into nearest the trash can.

With a defeated sigh, she grabbed the remote to the TV which was positioned on the table in front of her and powered on the television stationed in front of her, hoping that something, just _something_ good was on to help pass the time while she awaited Pierce's arrival.

Channel 12 was airing an all-day, first season premiere marathon of _Nyte Blayde_, and Birk was the absolute last person she'd wanted to see at the moment, next to Loren. Next.

Flipping through other channels, she encountered commercials for _Nyte Blayde, Lowdown,_ an absolute joke of a sweepstakes where kids could become Third Street Saints, Planet Saints merchandise promoted by Pierce, some of the radio stations, and even her own reality show, _I Wanna Sleep with Shaundi_, which instantly reminded her that filming for the upcoming second season was going to start the following week. How she could properly handle scheduling her dating show on top of dealing with The Syndicate at the same time was anyone's guess.

Within time, Shaundi, in defeat, gave up on trying to find something entertaining to watch and shut the TV off, nearly breaking the remote as she forcefully slammed it down on the table. Realizing she'd been acting stupid, she took deep breaths and eventually calmed down. Despite being perfectly calm now, she was absolutely clueless on just how she was going to waste more time waiting for Pierce. However, her thoughts were cut short with a sharp knock on the door. She approached said door and opened it to reveal Pierce standing on the other side. At least it hadn't taken him _too long _to get there.

"Damn girl, is _this _your place?" He asked while he surveyed the apartment as he walked in. "It looks like a shithole."

"Glad you could make it, Pierce…" She sarcastically deadpanned at his remark about the apartment, instead expecting him to ask about her feelings at the moment, considering what'd she'd gone through. "And I told you, this is my _ex's _apartment," she gritted through her teeth. "Not _mine_."

"Oh really? Just which ex was it this time, one of the many guys you've probably given an STD to?" Pierce suddenly mocked her with a smart tone in his voice. "How many exes does this make now? Like, 683 or some shit like that?"

"Okay, is this _really_ the time?" Shaundi questioned Pierce, not the least bit amused at his remarks.

"Hey, I'm just sayin'…" Pierce stated as he defensively raised his hands.

"Yeah? Well, stop it. It's not cool and it was completely uncalled for."

After that slight argument, the only remaining lieutenant of the Saints sat down on the couch as he decided to change the subject onto more important matters. "So Shaundi," he began as he quickly thought about what to say, "have you been to Steelport before?" He queried. "I remember you calling it 'Bangkok's abusive mother', I think that was it, which makes me think you have."

She sat down before and nodded her head in approval, despite the fact that her exact remark was 'Bangkok's abusive father'. "I was here once on vacation during spring break when I was in college, and from what I've seen, the city hasn't changed too much aside from the majority of it being filled with Planet Saints stores."

After Shaundi's statement, there was an air of silence in the apartment as Pierce absorbed the information that was given to him. "So, what happened after the vault theft, aside from our two best friends getting killed?" He asked, being careful to avoid mentioning the names of Johnny and the boss as Shaundi didn't seem to take their losses well.

"I'm glad you finally asked that," she remarked as she began to tell the story. "After we were arrested we were immediately introduced to some scantily-clad bitches known as the DeWynter sisters, who took us to a private plane that flew directly us above Steelport, where we were introduced to a Belgian man named Phillipe Loren, who is the chairman of The Syndicate."

"The Syndicate? What the hell is that?" Pierce questioned.

"According to Phillipe himself, The Syndicate is a multinational organization that is currently doing business in Stilwater and Steelport as an upcoming rival to the Saints, from what it seems. Remember the Stilwater 1st National Bank we tried to rob?"

Pierce nodded in reply at Shaundi's question.

"Turns out they own it, which explains why we were attacked by some of the Morning Star back there, not to mention the bank's entrance had a giant horse statue that Johnny happened to destroy."

"I take it the Morning Star is the gang that this Loren guy is the leader of?" Pierce intentionally asked her, not bothered to mention the statue, as he didn't find it important.

"I wouldn't be the least bit surprised, because they all have the exact same fashion sense as him," Shaundi replied before returning to explaining the rest of the story. "Anyway, the DeWynter sisters offered that we and The Syndicate work together, with us getting the short end of the stick in exchange for sixty-six percent of our monthly gross revenue, so naturally we turned them down, or at least Johnny made it well-known that we weren't accepting the deal. In response, one of Loren's goons tried shooting Johnny, and naturally the guy got his ass kicked."

Pierce intentionally interrupted Shaundi to snicker at Johnny kicking the mook's ass. Once he was done, she returned to recalling the remainder of the story.

"He then untied the boss and myself and had us escape from the plane while he fought off Loren. When we arrived at the rear of the plane, I told him we were about to jump and was stopped by gunfire, killing him in the process. The boss was about to escape the plane with the only parachute, but gave it to me and pushed me off as he announced I was the new boss and ran off to attend to Johnny, and, well, I told you the rest before."

The male Saints lieutenant thought about what Shaundi had just explained to him before saying anything else.

"So, the boss and Johnny are dead, you're the new boss, and we're the only Saints left?"

Shaundi raised a finger to illustrate a point. "Well, we still have the regular guys we can call in. Maybe you should get around to doing it, because there's no way in Hell the two of us can take the entire Syndicate down by ourselves."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about those guys!" Pierce exclaimed in realization. "Good thinking," he added as he took out his phone dialed the Saints' backup number. "Hey guys, it's Pierce. Now listen, I need you to-"

He was suddenly interrupted by what sounded like shouting from Shaundi's point of view, which made her quite curious as to just what was occurring from Pierce's end. Just when she was about to butt in, he quickly removed his phone from his ear and placed a hand on it, muffling the speaker.

"I think you need to give these guys some good words, because they're not listening to a single word from me," Pierce suggested to her as he appeared to rub his ear in pain.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do," Shaundi replied as she set Pierce's phone against her ear to hopefully set things straight. "Now listen up, you assholes! As the new boss of the Saints, I demand that all of you get your asses over to Steelport, and fast!" She shouted in an intentionally angry tone.

The mooks on the other end immediately complied with her order and announced they would arrive as soon as possible, and she then ended the call.

"Well damn, I see Gat and the boss' deaths have really shaken you up, girl," he stated, somewhat surprised at her outburst.

Shaundi shrugged her shoulders in reply. "Hey, sometimes you just need to make your message clear to some people, that's all," she remarked as she briefly placed a supporting hand on his shoulder, her lips forming a small smile in the process.

"Right," Pierce said somewhat awkwardly as that strategy didn't work out too well for him. "Anyway, I'm going to search around town to find any decent cribs to crash. I'll call you if I see anything so we can get some shit done," he said as he stood up and approached the door that led to the exit.

"Sounds good to me," Shaundi responded, "but Pierce, where are you going to stay overnight? You can't just spend the entire day searching for a crib for us to take over."

"Shaundi, listen, I appreciate you looking out for me, but just because you're in charge of the Saints now doesn't mean you need to. I'll be fine, alright?" He asked her. "This motherfucker knows how to get shit done."

"Fine, I'll take your word for it," Shaundi replied half-truthfully, not wanting Pierce to undergo the same fate Johnny and the boss did, but realizing she wasn't able to stop his natural stubbornness. "Just don't do anything reckless, alright?"

"You got it, girl. I'll catch you later," Pierce finished as he closed the door behind him and departed from her ex's apartment.

Once Pierce was fully gone, Shaundi, not wanting to possibly hurt his feelings, found an empty garbage bag and unloaded every refrigerated can of Saints Flow into it, and sealed the bag shut once the fridge was fully emptied of the energy drink.

Shaundi then walked downstairs and tossed the garbage bag outside the front door of her ex's apartment, slamming the door afterwards.

"I don't know what Pierce was thinking when he invented Saints Flow, but that shit needs to be quarantined," Shaundi stated out loud before heading back upstairs.

* * *

The next chapter will feature plenty of action, I promise.


	5. Party Time

Once again, thank you guys for the support. It is greatly appreciated.

This chapter is not as long in length as the first chapter, but it's much, much longer than the second, third, and fourth.

* * *

**Party Time**

After spending the previous day sitting around and desperately trying to find something to watch, other than catching Pierce up to speed, Shaundi decided to spend the following day taking to the streets in her-now purple Torch and exploring Steelport. Even though she had visited the city back in her college days, it was a very brief visit, and Steelport, much like Stilwater, had drastically changed from the first time she glimpsed at the city.

Due to the Saints being worldwide pop-culture icons and celebrities, it wasn't surprising for Shaundi to see something related to the Saints plastered around the city, whether it be various billboards depicting herself, Pierce, and the deceased Johnny Gat and the boss, giant neon signs advertising their fashion scene on various skyscrapers, Planet Saints stores that were located on nearly every block, or even vending machines that advertised Saints Flow, as much as she currently dreaded the taste of the drink.

On top of Saints memorabilia, there was a decent amount of memorabilia for The Syndicate that came in the form of the Syndicate Tower, its position easily revealed by its imposing red and black color scheme. The Syndicate Tower seemed to be The Syndicate's base of operations and was the tallest building in Steelport, making sure its appearance completely stood out from that of the other skyscrapers that resided there.

_Holy shit that is one tall skyscraper, _Shaundi commented on the tower as she parked the car at the nearest Planet Saints.

"Enjoying the view, slut?" A snarky, feminine and British-accented voice questioned her.

Shaundi turned to the source of the sound to find a female Morning Star mook standing to her right.

"Hey, it's not my fault every man in the world wants me," she boasted to the woman in an arrogant tone. "Besides, what gives you the right to call me a slut, you bitch? You're showing over twice as much cleavage than I am with those helium-filled tits of yours," she stated as she briefly took a glimpse at the woman's chest.

The female Morning Star mook decided to retort with a physical insult, realizing she had officially been deprived of any vocal insults. She slowly curled up her hand in a fist, reading herself to punch Shaundi, only for her head to be met with a vicious clothesline from the new boss of the Saints.

A split second after her arm clashed against the woman's face, Shaundi expected her to be slowly staggering to her feet, but surprisingly the woman wound up dead the moment her body crashed against the pavement.

_Served that bitch right, _Shaundi thought to herself as she glared a hole into the woman's dead eyes before returning to her Torch, only to find a notification of a text message from Pierce on her phone, sent to her roughly five minutes ago. She opened her messages app to view it.

"_Yo girl, I found the perfect place for us to crash," _the message stated.

Instead of replying to Pierce's text via another text message, she instead preferred to call him. He said he'd call her anyway.

"Pierce, I got your text. You said you found a new crib?" Shaundi asked.

"_Hell yeah I did, and it's absolutely perfect!" _He replied with excitement in his voice.

"I take it it's a huge step above my ex's apartment, then?"

"_Shaundi, if this is about my remarks before, I'm sorry, alright? I really am. However, I have a feeling this place is really going to cheer you up."_

"Let me guess: is it a penthouse?" She pondered.

"_Damn girl, I didn't know you could read minds now, but yeah, that's what it is. There's a catch, though; it isn't just any ordinary penthouse: it's owned by The Syndicate, the Morning Star in particular, and they're throwing a _huge _party tonight. I mean HUGE."_

Unbeknownst to Pierce, a large smirk was growing on Shaundi's lips. "In that case, it looks like we have a party to crash, then. "

"_You bet your fine ass we do! I'll see you outside of your ex's place tonight."_

"Alright, that sounds good," Shaundi replied as she ended the call.

* * *

Later that night, Shaundi stood outside of her ex's apartment. The sun was beginning to fall, signaling the beginning of the night. She had been standing for a couple minutes wondering just where the hell Pierce was when she noticed a black helicopter flying toward her. It must've been him, otherwise she probably would have been running for cover if it was a police helicopter.

Once the helicopter arrived at its destination, it landed in the middle of the road in front of Shaundi's ex's loft, where there was no traffic in sight. Upon inspection, Shaundi noticed it was the same type of helicopter the news company and the police used, as it bore the sliding doors in the back. Seeing as the sliding doors were currently open, Shaundi figured that was she was supposed to enter the helicopter and decided to do just that.

"So, what's the plan?" Shaundi asked the pilot upon entering the helicopter, who was none other than Pierce.

"For the most part, the plan is really simple. You see those parachutes behind you?" He asked her as he began to take off.

Shaundi turned around and noticed said parachutes. "Yeah, what about them?"

"You'll need to take one of them on your way down. Seeing as it's a penthouse, the-"

"Yeah, yeah, the elevator needs a code to be accessed, I know that," she interrupted him. Shaundi was fully aware of how penthouses worked. Hell, she was directly alongside the boss when he decided to purchase that one penthouse back in Stilwater. She didn't need him telling her information she already knew.

Pierce was unnaturally unfazed by her interruption, as odd as it seemed, so she decided to move on.

"Anyway, if I'm taking care of the elevator, what're you going to do?" Shaundi queried, curious about Pierce's involvement in the matter.

"Oh, I'll be the cavalry. I'm sure one of those Morning Star assholes will have the code, and that's where you'll interrogate him for it. After that, you'll call us up and I'll officially crash the party." He finalized as a smirk spread across his face.

"I'm fine with that, but Pierce, do you mean WE'LL officially crash the party?" She questioned. "I'M the boss, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," he immediately replied in a dismissive manner. "It just feels weird having you as the boss and all," he added.

Pierce's added remark prompted Shaundi to walk over and slam her heeled boot on his foot, despite the fact that the helicopter was around a hundred feet in the air, if not higher.

"OWWWW!" Pierce screamed in agony as he clutched his foot in pain. "What the fuck was that for?! Don't you know we're airborne?"

"How many times do I have to tell you, Pierce? I don't give a shit if you're unhappy with me being the boss or not. The boss handpicked ME to be the next leader of the Saints, not YOU," Shaundi sharply stated as she literally pierced Pierce's eyes with her own. "I don't want to hear anymore bitching about me being the boss; in fact, I don't want to hear a single remark about me being the boss. PERIOD. Is that clear?"

"Yes, boss," Pierce sincerely replied. "I won't talk about it anymore. Now, can we _please _focus on the mission before I lose any and all feeling in my foot now that you punctured it?"

"Fine," Shaundi said, sitting back in her seat and momentarily crossing her arms, "but only because I get to kill more of those Morning Star assholes."

"Alright, so we both understand what we're doing?" Pierce suddenly queried, ensuring both Shaundi and himself were fully aware of the plan's layout. "And more? You mean you've killed some already?"

"I've got it, and I take it you do, too?" She retorted, almost acting as though the exchange they previously had never took place. "And yeah, I had an altercation with one of Phillipe's bitches this morning. It wasn't either of the DeWynter sisters, but it was still just as sweet. Anyway, I take it you're ready to go?"

Pierce replied to Shaundi's altercation in the form of a nod, acknowledging her comments. "We're getting there," He then informed her, referring to the penthouse's location.

Within seconds, Pierce noticed thin, but visible, red spotlights in the sky. From his point of view, it looked like they were approaching the penthouse.

"Yo Shaundi, we're closing in on the penthouse," he stated.

"We are?" She asked as she grabbed the nearest pair of binoculars to view a closer look at the building. A close inspection revealed several Morning Star mooks dancing with what appeared to be hos, strippers, and even some regular pedestrians.

"This HAS to be the place," Shaundi stated as she continued to survey the area. "The Morning Star are all over the place."

One particular sight that almost evaded her vision was an absolute fat beast of a man swimming in the pool. Alone.

"Some asshole's in my pool," she deadpanned. "Are we all set?"

"The rest of the crew's ready downstairs," Pierce responded. "Just say the word and we'll crash the party."

"Let's do it," Shaundi finalized as she removed the binoculars from her face, looking down upon the scene with nothing but a scowl on her face.

* * *

Once the Oppressor was directly above the helipad of the penthouse, Pierce took a quick, but careful survey of the surrounding area to ensure a lack of any opposing threats. Fortunately, there were none in sight.

"Alright, you're clear!" Pierce announced to Shaundi.

"Aright," was Shaundi's only reply as she grabbed the nearest parachute, strapped it to her back, and engaged it as she jumped out the back of the helicopter. Once she was in slow descent toward the penthouse, she made a fair effort to note the exact position of the fatass in the pool for future reference. She briefly considered intentionally falling on him and killing him in the process, but dismissed the idea, deciding it would be easier to kill him later, and she wasn't willing to get her expensive clothing soaked.

Shaundi landed on the helipad with a click as she landed heels-first. Taking a second to turn around, she noticed the Oppressor Pierce was previously piloting was absent from Steelport's skyline. She figured he was getting the crew ready for her signal and focused her attention on her part of the mission, which was finding the mook with the elevator code.

However, the process was much easier said than done. As Shaundi walked around the back area of the penthouse, none of the Morning Star happened to notice that the new leader of the Saints was trespassing upon their property, which was currently fortunate for her sake, although she was fully aware that once she found the mook she was looking for and began to send the message, all hell would immediately break loose, so she had to ensure her guard was up at all times.

A couple steps there, a couple steps here, and everything looked the same to her. It was almost as if Loren had a limited variety of Morning Star mooks.

_Where the fuck is this guy? All of them look the same, _Shaundi thought to herself as she became increasingly impatient. By this point, she was rather baffled that none of the Morning Star had noticed her presence yet. It seemed they were too drunk by whatever booze they'd shoving down their throats for the past hour or so, seeing as she had chosen to trespass in the middle of a huge party. _Jesus, I'd rather hunt down Birk in the middle of a forest._

Right when Shaundi almost wanted to snap, she noticed one mook whose back was turned to her. A quick glance at his lower body revealed there was a small paper sticking out of his back pocket, something that none of the others had in their back pockets.

_That paper must have the elevator code! _She thought to herself in relief.

With the mook's back still turned to her, Shaundi contemplated whether to sneak up on him and secretly snatch the paper when he wasn't looking, or do things the old-fashioned way and interrogate him.

_Fuck it, I'll interrogate the bastard._

With her mind completely set, the new boss of the Saints snuck up on the man, pulled out a .45 Shepherd from her holster, turned his body to face hers and pointed the pistol at his head with one hand, the other against his throat.

"Give me the elevator code!" She angrily demanded.

"Go to Hell, you slut!" He instantly retorted in a British accent.

"Oh, how I love it when you refuse…" She coldly muttered under her breath.

A twisted smirk grew on Shaundi's face as she increased the grip on the mook's throat and moved the pistol closer to his head until it was literally touching it. The increased grip caused the mook to begin coughing lightly.

"Fine, I'll give it to you! The code is 1138, and the elevator's in the basement!" He confessed, panic beginning to set in his tone. "Now let me go!"

"Sure thing," Shaundi sarcastically replied as she released her grip on his neck, but not before immediately ending his life with a bullet to the head. Within seconds, the other Morning Star mooks in the vicinity released their weapons and began to fire at Shaundi. As she struggled to find cover, all the pedestrians who had attended the party were running around and screaming in absolute horror at the gunfire that was being unleashed.

As much as she hated being forced to perform this action against her will, Shaundi temporarily focused on shooting some of the screaming pedestrians with her .45 Shepherd. She wasn't doing it because she wanted to, but it didn't seem as though she really had any choice at the moment. She was trying to look for cover from the Morning Star, who, meanwhile, had been attempting to hail an endless storm of bullets on the new boss of the Saints, but even they were struggling from interference.

Once enough panicking pedestrians had been unwillingly shot, Shaundi ran inside and found decent cover behind the black, elongated couch in front of her and made a quick dive behind, as the dead citizens not only benefited her, but the Morning Star as well, who were beginning to close in on her.

By this point, she had figured she'd been at the penthouse for a little over ten minutes now, and was quite surprised to find that Pierce wasn't bitching about how long it was taking her to call the elevator. Then again, bitching about her progress would have likely involved him, for the thousandth time, bitching about her being the new boss of the Saints once more, which was a move he definitely didn't want to make again after the warning she'd made prior to crashing the party.

While the Morning Star began to close in on Shaundi, she realized that, unless she could place some professionally-timed headshots, the .45 Shepherd wasn't going to get the job done and placed the pistol back in her holster as she, in desperation, placed a hand under the couch in hopes of finding a better gun.

She eventually felt her hand touch a large object that was cold, and felt like it was made of steel, quietly snickering at her discovery.

The weapon that Shaundi had found was none other than an AS3 Ultimax, the standard law enforcement shotgun. She didn't understand what a law enforcement-specific shotgun was doing at the Morning Star's penthouse, but she wasn't about to complain.

From behind, a female Morning Star mook tried stabbing Shaundi in the back with a butchering knife, but she heard her footsteps and countered the failed stabbing with a shotgun blast directly to her face, completely separating her head from her neck, but almost entirely covering Shaundi with blood and gore in the process.

_Well shit, I needed a good shower anyway._

After that woman was dead, the now blood-colored Shaundi turned around toward the back of the penthouse, where the Morning Star returned to hailing gunfire on her. Without a second of hesitation she blasted each and every one of them away with the power of the AS3 Ultimax.

"Take this, you shitheads!" She loudly insulted them as she increased her kill count. While having all of these Morning Star to herself to murder, she felt as though she was turning into Johnny Gat, whose love for mass murdering was universally known, at least throughout Stilwater and Steelport.

Once the penthouse had been cleared of anymore threats, Shaundi dashed down to the basement, located the elevator, and entered the 1138 code to call up Pierce and the rest of the Saints' crew.

"_We're comin' up. Keep the elevator clear!" _Pierce announced to her on her phone.

"Oh, I don't think I'll have to worry about that…" Shaundi humorously trailed off to herself.

Once the elevator opened, Pierce and roughly half a dozen Saints mooks patrolled the penthouse in search of any remaining Morning Star. To their surprise and Pierce's somewhat subtle disgust, they were all dead, courtesy of Shaundi.

"Damn, girl, I know I wanted you to keep the door clear, but did you really have to kill everyone?" Pierce asked in complaint. "And what the _fuck _are you completely covered in blood for?"

"What can I say, Pierce? I guess I've decided to finally embrace my inner Johnny Gat," she stated with a smirk. "Besides, shouldn't you be happy about this? After all, I did most of the work here."

"Yeah, you're right," he honestly admitted, "thanks, Shaundi," he complimented as he briefly patted Shaundi on the back, almost immediately forgetting she was covered in blood. "There's just one important question I haven't asked you yet."

"What is it, Pierce?" Shaundi asked as she cocked an eyebrow.

"Do you want me to call you Shaundi or boss?"

Before answering, Shaundi took a brief moment to consider her answer to the question.

Back in Stilwater, when she had first joined the Saints as a carefree stoner, she, at one point, remembered one random Saint deciding to call the boss by his real name. To this day, it was never discovered how he found out, but the boss, who was a 'strict dickhead' at the time, an insult he would use when referring to himself at this point in his life in later times, nearly killed the Saint and threatened him with a slow, painful death if he referred to him as such ever again. The boss then explained to the entire crew, Shaundi included, that his name was 'extremely confidential', and no one, not even Johnny Gat, the boss' best friend and second-in-command at the time, had the right to refer to him by his real name.

From that day on, every Third Street Saint swore their absolute loyalty by keeping promise to that order, a traditional standard of the Saints that carried on until the day he died on Phillipe's plane with Johnny, and even then, the loyalty never ceased to end.

Shaundi, on the other hand, was an extremely well-known person. Not only did her almost-endless list of exes travel out the door and stop on the other side of the Earth, but her name itself was extremely uncommon. Where in the world did you find a woman named Shaundi, of all things? If she wanted to keep her name confidential, not that she wanted to, it would be quite difficult to keep it a secret. As a result, she had made her decision.

"Keeping calling me by my name, Pierce," Shaundi ordered. "Unlike the boss, my name _isn't _a secret, and it's not about to become one, either."

"Sounds good to me," Pierce finalized before he decided to change the subject. "Anyway, now that this penthouse officially belongs to the Saints, what do you think we should name it?"

Shaundi thought for a second. "How about Saints' HQ? I think it has a nice ring to it."

"Saints' HQ…" He repeated the name to himself. "I like the sound of that. I really do."

"Well, then it's official: this penthouse will officially be referred to as Saints' HQ," Shaundi announced as she decided to take the time to explore the various rooms of the penthouse and noted her disgust at the wild overuse of red and black. If anything, seeing red and black everywhere almost made her believe she was going colorblind.

"We're gonna need more purple in here," she decided before shooting what appeared to be a security camera with a spare .45 Shepherd. After shooting the camera, to her absolute shock, the fatass who was positioned in the pool before she crashed the party was STILL there, and in the exact same spot, too.

_Are you fuckin' kiddin' me? _Shaundi mentally asked as she stormed out to the pool.

"Hey, get the fuck outta here!" She yelled at the man with the .45 Shepherd pointed in his direction. The sight of the pistol immediately prompted the man to flee from the newly-acquired Saints' HQ with his tail between his legs.

Despite originally planning to kill the man, Shaundi decided to only jokingly threaten him, as the sun was beginning to slowly rise across the horizon, prompting her to head back inside and find an empty bed to sleep in, as she was far too exhausted to shower despite her body still being entirely coated with blood.

* * *

At a location that appeared to be The Syndicate's boardroom, the young man Phillipe previously referred to as Matt Miller was having a discussion with the other figure Phillipe referred to as Killbane. Matt appeared to be panicking, while Killbane was as relaxed as a hummingbird.

"The Saints aren't going to back down!" Matt warned Killbane in a British accent as he quickly paced back and forth. "We have to be ready for them at any moment!"

"Mattie, there's nothin' to worry about," Killbane calmly reassured him as he arrogantly struck a pose that completely resembled the gladiator statue that was positioned behind him.

"My thoughts exactly, Mr. Killbane," Phillipe casually agreed with the masked wrestler as he entered the room, the eyepatch again covering his left eye, and the DeWynter sisters accompanying him. "The Saints are nothing more but a white noise of empty sights, and their new leader is nothing but a worthless, promiscuous woman."

With that remark, a violent vibration began to erupt in one of Matt's pockets, a disturbance which seemed to greatly annoy the Belgian chairman of The Syndicate. Matt placed a hand in his pocket to discover he was being sent a live video message on his phone, and by the increased size of his eyes, the message was anything but pleasant.

"With respect, sir," Matt informed Phillipe as he slid his phone across the large table to the other side where he was standing, "I'd say empty and worthless are no longer applicable."

If anything, Phillipe became increasingly annoyed with the young man's remark, despite the fact that he was trying to be as respectful as possible, and scowled at the live video, which displayed none other than Shaundi, the new leader of the Third Street Saints, shooting down the last Morning Star mook at the penthouse with a .45 Shepherd, before turning her attention to what appeared a nearby security camera and destroying it as well, suddenly bringing the message to a permanent, silent halt, and causing Phillipe to slightly jump at the sound of the loud static.


	6. Setting Things Straight

I honestly didn't plan for the next chapter to go like this, but an idea popped in my head at the time and led to this.

Also, at one point the line spacing becomes slightly uneven. I honestly have no idea why.

* * *

**Setting Things Straight**

The following morning, or night, as it should be said, Shaundi awoke from another deep slumber after the events of the previous day, and she had every right to have been engaged in a deep slumber. After all, she was the one solely responsible for turning the penthouse formerly owned by the Morning Star into the Saints' new base of operations, not to mention she prevented a fatass from fully hogging her pool.

Despite acting nocturnally by sleeping in the morning and awake at night, she rose out of bed, but quickly noticed a strange lack of noise within the interior. Apparently everyone else was able to sleep normally except her, it seemed, but why? Compared to all the actions Shaundi performed last night, Pierce and the others hardly did a thing. It didn't seem right for them to sleep like any other person and for her to sleep like a cat. Either way, she wasn't about to become a cruel, stoic dictator who didn't give a single shit about the condition of her followers; she felt she had much more class than that.

Deciding to change the subject, and considering she was the only Saint who was awake, she figured it would be an opportune moment to spend a considerable amount of time showering, as she was still covered in blood from the previous night due to the encounter with that one female Morning Star mook.

Unfortunately, to Shaundi's dismay, she had absolutely no idea where the bathrooms were, forcing her to explore the penthouse in the nude while at the same time ensuring she didn't cause any loud disturbances and praying, absolutely _praying _that no one found her like this, _especially _Birk, but words wouldn't do justice describing how humiliating it would be if she was caught looking the way she did.

Slowly poking her head out the bedroom door, Shaundi took a quick survey of the surrounding vicinity to ensure the coast was clear. From what she could currently see, there wasn't a single soul in sight, and any other door that possibly lead to another bedroom appeared to be tightly shut.

_So far, so good, _Shaundi thought to herself before proceeding to step outside the bedroom.

Placing her head back inside the bedroom, she placed a hand on the large, wooden door in front of her to open it completely. All she had to do was give the door a light push and it responded with an unnerving _CRREEEAAAK!_, literally causing Shaundi's heart to skip a few beats and pound like a ticking timebomb as she retracted her hand due to the unexpected noise.

_Well fuck, it looks like this is going to be tougher than I thought…_

As the loud noise caused Shaundi's heart to literally pound against the insides of her chest, it also made her increasingly nervous. Anyone in the penthouse could've easily been awakened by the sound of the door, and in case someone did wake up, she placed a hand on the outside of her ear to listen for any noise coming from any of the other rooms. To her surprise, there was none.

Realizing another light tap on the door was going to result in the exact same creaking sound, Shaundi decided to stop fooling around. She placed the same hand on the door once more, and shoved open with all her strength.

If it was like any other ordinary door, the bedroom door would've violently slammed against the wall like any other, but due to its increased size and thickness, it did not, which greatly relieved her.

However, because the door was pushed, the loud _CRREEEAAAK! _returned, and it was far louder than before. Shaundi again listened for any disturbances that may have resided from other areas of the penthouse, and much like before, there was no other sound than absolute silence, the only exception being Shaundi's heavy breathing due to her nervousness returning.

Shaundi took deep breaths to return her pounding heart to its normal state. She slowly tiptoed outside of the bedroom and took a left, where she found a small staircase that descended to the penthouse's normal floor. From her current view, Shaundi could make out what appeared to be a decently-sized dining area in the front of her, but she couldn't make a solid statement, as although the moon was shining high in the sky, it appear anywhere in the penthouse's vicinity, causing it to be nearly flooded in darkness. Despite the darkness, Shaundi turned to find the large, glass windows that revealed the swimming pool and helipad, her instinct telling her to turn due to the audible swishing noises caused by the water.

_Well, this is just _great. Shaundi was starting to become extremely annoyed by the difficulty of trying to find the bathroom. _How am I supposed to find the bathroom now? I can't see shit. _

Shaundi, facing the back area of the penthouse, decided to take a sharp left. The staircase she had previously descended from was located directly to the right of a wall which revealed a somewhat long, thin hallway that branched off in two different directions. The reflection of the pool from outside, despite the lacking presence of the moon in the vicinity, appeared to reveal one of the three locations the hallway led to. If her eyes weren't deceiving her, Shaundi was positive she could see a bathtub in the distance. She slowly walked down the hallway, being sure not to possibly run into any dangerous objects.

Almost within closing distance, she was sure she could also see a hottub.

And a sink.

And… and an issue of Playboy that featured none other than herself on the cover, randomly lying on the floor?

Shaundi nearly had a double-take at the sight. She retrieved the issue up off the floor and stared at it with curious eyes, almost as if she was struggling to reminisce upon the past but failing. Looking for suggestions, she looked at the bottom, right-hand corner of the magazine to find the barcode.

There was a date on the barcode: December 2008.

Some slight images flashed in her mind, but they were far too brief for her to recall anything. She eventually decided to keep the magazine by her side as she continued venturing toward the bathroom, not wanting anyone else to discover it for themselves… not yet, at least.

Once she was within the bathroom, Shaundi closed and was sure to lock the doubled doors that concealed it as she readied the warm water at the bathtub. Much like how she locked the door at her ex's loft, she wasn't going to take any chances on some creep catching her in the nude.

She placed a hand under the water to test its warmness, and once she felt it was ready, Shaundi stepped in the bathtub, closing the curtains behind her, and showered away in hopes of restoring her skin color from blood red to its natural beige shade.

* * *

Shaundi was completely oblivious as to how much time had passed while she washed the blood off of her skin.

For all she knew, she could've been in the bathroom for five minutes or five hours. She couldn't tell time without windows to at least make an educated guess on the time of day, and the bathroom didn't have any windows.

Actually, come to think of it, the bathroom didn't have a clock either. The time could've been either one in the morning or one in the afternoon. She didn't know.

_KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!_

_Goddammit, _Shaundi cursed as she continued to rinse off remaining blood. She didn't have time to deal with anyone right now.

_KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!_

"I'm taking a shower!" She exclaimed at whoever was knocking outside. They really needed to stop.

_KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!_

"I'M TAKING A SHOWER!" She yelled, much louder than before. Whoever was knocking was quite persistent.

_KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!_

_"_I'M. TAKING A. FUCKING. **SHOWER**!" Shaundi screamed at the top of her lungs. "STOP KNOCKING!"

"But Shaundi, I have to piss _really _badly," she barely heard a voice respond on the other side. She couldn't make out the identity of the person speaking, but she could tell by the pitch that it was a male voice.

"Go piss outside!" Shaundi responded, not quite as loud as before.

_Don't tell me this penthouse has only one bathroom. It can't._

"I can't hold it!" The man exclaimed. He sounded like he was in pain.

To the man's surprise, he suddenly heard the water stop running.

Within the bathroom, Shaundi had stepped out of the shower, hoping to find a clean towel to cover herself in. Unfortunately, there were no towels to be found. Not even a small one. She made sure to grab the Playboy issue before approaching the doors and opening them, only to reveal Pierce standing on the other side.

If it was any other day, Pierce would've acted like any other straight guy at the sight of her nude body being completely exposed, but he was far too uncomfortable and intimidated by Shaundi's facial expression to do so.

"Uh… hi, Shaundi," he awkwardly greeted her with a forced smile on his face despite his currently uncomfortable stance. "Why do you have a Playboy issue in your hand?" He pondered, pointing to the magazine she was carrying.

"Pierce, did fate tell you to fuck around with me or are you literally trying to piss me off every chance you get?" She questioned him, ignoring his own question as she pierced a hole in his eyes.

Pierce responded by pushing past her and slamming the doubled doors in her face, as he was unable to answer her question. Apparently he wasn't kidding when he said he couldn't hold it.

"By the way, I'm recalling Saints Flow," Shaundi stated as he returned to her bedroom. She hated to say it, but Pierce's unprofessionally inexcusable behavior gave her no choice. She knew Pierce could be an oddball at times, but what he just did was absolutely uncalled for. No right person interrupts anyone when they're in the bathroom. No one.

To be honest, though, she hadn't recalled the energy drink… yet.

* * *

"_What was it you said about Saints Flow before?"_ Pierce, who decided to take yet another drive around the city, asked Shaundi on the phone.

"I don't know, Pierce," Shaundi, who was currently dressed and sitting on her bed, falsely lied, hoping to get a better reaction out of him. "How about you ask me that question to my face instead of hopelessly exploring Steelport like a pussy and I'll tell you?" She goaded him.

"_Fine, I will!" _He pathetically exclaimed as he hung up. Once the call ended, Shaundi couldn't stop laughing at Pierce's attempt to be serious. Whenever he tried acting serious, he _always _ended up sounding like a bitch, and whenever he got pissed off about something, his solution to clear it from his mind was mindlessly driving around the city. She didn't quite understand how that was supposed to help him, but that was his way of handling things.

* * *

Once Pierce returned to Saints' HQ, he 'confronted' Shaundi in her bedroom.

"Glad you could make it, Pierce," Shaundi said much like she did back at her ex's loft, except this time it was in a sarcastic tone instead of a deadpan tone.

"Okay, I'll ask you again: what was it you said about Saints Flow before? You know, earlier today?" He asked as he crossed his arms. Shaundi couldn't help but smirk at his attempt to be serious.

"Oh, you mean that shitty energy drink? I'm recalling it," she flatly stated. "It fucking sucks."

Pierce uncrossed his arms and widened his eyes in surprise. "You can't do that!" He exclaimed as he threw his arms down. "You _can't_ fucking do that!"

"Oh, I _can,_" Shaundi retorted as she silently laughed to herself. "I'm your boss, Pierce. What I say _goes_, and what I'm saying is that I've recalled Saints Flow. I had no choice but to try some back at my ex's place seeing as it was all he had to drink, and it tasted like rotten milk," she explained.

"Come on, you can't recall it just because _you _don't like it. Did you even check the date? You may have drank out of an expired can."

"Nope, it was completely fresh," she confirmed. "They all were, and besides, have _you _even tried it?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow in interest. This was going to be good.

Pierce tried his best to maintain a serious composure.

"Well… to be honest…"

Shaundi's curious expression forced him to spill the beans.

"No, I haven't," he admitted with a defeated sigh, "I have no idea what it tastes like."

"How could you not know what it tastes like?" Shaundi asked him. "_You're _the one who came up with the idea of the drink in the first place, and _you're _the one who's been promoting it since the day it came out. I'm sure if you knew what it tasted like, you'd highly regret promoting it."

Pierce shrugged his shoulders and somewhat began to pout. He was starting to understand what Shaundi was saying, but he wasn't the least bit enlightened by the situation.

Shaundi noticed him pouting and decided to comfort him. "Hey, don't act like that," she said as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "You still have your record deal with Reprise, don't you?"

"I do…" Pierce trailed off for a moment. "…but it's not really getting anywhere. I did some solo recordings a couple weeks ago and I didn't seem to do well with them. Apparently I'm not a big name compared to mostly everyone else who's currently under their wing."

"Pierce, don't put yourself down like that. I'm sure you have a great singing voice," she stated with no doubt of falseness in her tone.

"Really, Shaundi?" He asked as he started to slightly lighten up. "You think so?"

"Absolutely. Hell, we can go do a sing-along now if it'll make you feel better."

"Nah, that's alright, you don't need to make me feel better," he stated, "but I appreciate the effort."

"Hey, what're good friends for?" Shaundi chimed as she removed her hand from his shoulder and patted him on the back. "Did you find any more news on The Syndicate while you were out?"

Apparently Shaundi chose the right question to ask, as a huge, arrogant smirk spread Pierce's lips.

"I thought you'd never ask…"

* * *

This chapter was also going to cover Shaundi and Pierce's attack on Powder, but I thought putting both together in one chapter would it make it far too long, so that's why I decided to end this chapter with Pierce trailing off. Sorry if you were expecting some action.


	7. A Wounded Bird

I'm sorry it took me longer than expected to write this chapter. I was trying to come up with a good plot twist for this chapter, and I think I got one.

Also, I've noticed some people hoping that Shaundi and Pierce will become a couple. I hate to break it to you guys, but they're going to remain as good friends, much like Shaundi and the boss in SRTT.

* * *

**A Wounded Bird**

"I thought you'd never ask," Pierce stated, "I say we hit Powder."

"You can't be serious," Shaundi immediately replied, shocked at his suggestion. He wanted them to see the stripper?

"What's the problem?" He curiously asked.

"You want to see a stripper _now_?" She fumed. "We have more important things to worry about than seeing a goddamn stripper!"

"No, no, not _that _powder," Pierce corrected her as he raised a finger to illustrate a point. "Powder is a designer gun store downtown."

"So?" Shaundi questioned once more. "Why do we need to invade a designer gun store?"

"Well, between you and me," he stated before continuing, acting as though what Shaundi was being told was supposed to be kept secret, "I saw some of Loren's thugs enter inside earlier as I passed by. You know, those Morning Star assholes?"

Shaundi cocked an eyebrow at Pierce's comment about the Morning Star and took back her previous remarks. She was now very intrigued with his suggestion of raiding what seemed to be Loren's gun store.

"In that case, we're burning Powder to the ground," Shaundi announced as a somewhat mischievous smirk spread her lips. "Let's go," she added before they departed from Saints' HQ.

* * *

Shaundi and Pierce arrived at Powder in no time. The gun store's location was easily given away by the four flags that stood on top of the building, each of them displaying a long, pink sniper rifle, something that wasn't a very common sight in Steelport. Above the store's front doors was a large, neon-pink pistol. If one could guess, it appeared to be Powder's logo, or at least its symbol.

Pierce, armed with only a lone .45 Shepherd, poked inside the door to hopefully get a better view at the opposition they'd be dealing with, and there had to have been at least a dozen Morning Star mooks inside, if not more. Despite seemingly being armed and ready for any attack, they appeared to be casually chatting.

"There's a lot guys with guns in there. Maybe we should go through the back way," he recommended as he closed the door and slowly turned to face Shaundi.

"Maybe you should've came _more prepared_," she noted as she made a slight gesture toward Pierce's lone pistol. He tried to think of a witty comeback, but Shaundi had somehow gotten her hands on a K-8 Krukov, a much more powerful gun than his .45 Shepherd, and decided to refrain from saying anything more. He then readied himself, assuming she was going to enter through the front.

Shaundi noticed Pierce's change in stance, and kicked the doubled doors open with her heeled boot. The force applied in the kick caused the doors to slam into the walls, as the Morning Star mooks were grouped together, armed, and ready to fire, except that they weren't. Apparently they were waiting for Shaundi to make the first move.

The leader of the Third Street Saints indeed moved first, and her move came in the form of a headshot from her assault rifle that decapitated one of the male Morning Star, causing blood to splatter everywhere. Luckily, neither she nor Pierce were splattered with any blood.

Instead of ignoring the blood stains and firing upon the two Saints, they started screaming like a bunch of wild banshees, an entirely out of character reaction from them. Shaundi responded to their frantic outburst by increasing her kill count, deciding to set her priorities first and ask questions later. The only problem with increasing her kill count, however, was that the Morning Star were running all over the place instead of remaining huddled together, thus making manners slightly more difficult, but it wasn't anything she couldn't normally handle. As the new boss of the Saints, she had to instantly take advantage of an opportunity whenever one came in flying through the door.

Once the room had seemingly been cleared of all Morning Star, Pierce, standing behind Shaundi but to see a good view of everything that just occurred, decided to question their strange behavior.

"Man, just what the hell was that shit all about?" He pondered while placing a hand on his chin in a thinking gesture. "They took that bloodbath pretty damn seriously."

"Beats the hell out of me," Shaundi replied while she slowly entered the gun store while carefully watching her footing, "but this isn't the time to think about it. We need to clear this place of anymore Morning Star," she added as she discovered the coast was clear and signaled her hand for Pierce to walk alongside her.

For a designer gun store, Powder was quite the bizarre sight. The entrance of the store was filled with what appeared to be a nearly-endless amount of crates and boxes. At the top, ledges could be seen hanging below the ceiling, but there were no staircases that properly led to them. Shaundi and Pierce were trying to find some sort of door to hopefully point them in the right direction, but it was much easier said than done.

"Pierce, do you see a door anywhere?" Shaundi asked her lieutenant, who walked off to the right.

"Hell no," he simply replied while walking off to the left. "I don't get this shit at all. How the hell they're able to work around all these fucking boxes is beyond me."

"That's the thing: WHY are there so many boxes?" She pondered as she continued searching to the right while constantly brushing past seemingly endless number of boxes. "I know this is a gun store, let alone a designer gun store, but _Jesus_, the first room in Powder is larger than an entire Friendly Fire."

"Makes you wonder if Loren's hiding something with all these boxes, doesn't it?" Pierce asked her he as he also brushed past several boxes. "There has to be some reason behind this."

"I don't know what he's hiding if he's even hiding anything, but I'm not about to wait around and find out," Shaundi stated in a manner that allowed Pierce to guess that she didn't want to enter an in-depth discussion about Loren and the boxes. She was honestly starting to become slightly freaked out by not only the severely high number of boxes, but the fact they were all exactly the same. Luckily for her, things were finally looking better for the two of them.

"Pierce, follow me! I'm on the right trail!" Shaundi shouted as she found a set of ordinary doubled doors and proceeded to open them, as Pierce quickly followed suit. On the inside of the doors was an ordinary faculty kitchen, complete with a refrigerator, microwave, and other essentials. At the same time, a couple of Loren's mooks were in the kitchen and attacked the two Saints with, naturally, the full intent of killing them. Shaundi and Pierce readied themselves to retaliate against whatever was going to be thrown against them.

"These motherfuckers are everywhere, aren't they?" Pierce asked as he removed his .45 Shepherd and a Morning Star head. Shaundi chose not to respond as it was a rhetorical question.

"It would seem that way," she replied as she intentionally kicked the other Morning Star mook, a male mook, in the crotch with her heeled before fatally punching him in the head.

Once they were certain the two mooks were dead, Shaundi and Pierce ventured onward through the second set of doors, only to return to the same room as before, except it was a different area, as an orange platform filled the center of the room at the ceiling. Looking closely, Shaundi noticed the platform was home to some snipers.

"Shit, it's almost like Loren knew we were coming! Take over from the snipers!" She ordered as she made no hesitation in diving behind the nearest set of boxes, while Pierce did the same somewhere else. Despite hiding from sight, the snipers were easy to make out, as they unintelligently wore vibrant clothing, and their sniper rifles featured built-in laser sights that could probably be seen from a mile away, instantly giving away their position. In this case the snipers somewhat balanced themselves out, as for nearly every disadvantage there was an equal opportunity advantage. Although the sniper rifles revealed their positions, the rifles themselves were dangerously powerful and could leave visible holes in any form of material.

Shaundi waited until the sniper closest to her turned his back to her, and when he did she made no hesitation to take a chance, and placed a well-aimed shot into his neck.

"My leg!" He cried out before collapsing to the ground, dead. Shaundi ignored the strange cry before deciding to find Pierce, who meanwhile was shown struggling with the sniper. Each time Pierce did so much as reveal an article of his clothing, the sniper immediately fired a sharp bullet, barely missing him by an inch every time.

"Shaundi, I could really use some help over here!" Pierce yelled in slight panic, as he wasn't making any progress in taking down the sniper.

Seeing as her coast was currently clear, Shaundi dashed over to his location and dived behind his hiding spot. "Having some problems?" She queried.

"You bet. Each time I poke around trying to kill this bitch, he always comes close to hitting me instead," Pierce stated as he threw his arms up in disgust, acting as though he was out of options.

"This is why I said you should've come prepared earlier. How the hell do you expect to kill a sniper this far away," Shaundi momentarily paused to exaggerate how far away she and her lieutenant were from the sniper, "with only a _pistol_?" She asked as she pointed at his .45 Shepherd. "That's why I brought this," she explained as she focused his attention on her K-8 Krukov.

Pierce could only scoff in disgust at Shaundi's competence, but at the same time he realized that he wouldn't do the Saints any justice as a good leader with his almost-always arrogant attitude and personal incompetence that had been a staple of his character since the day he joined the gang. It also didn't help that everyone who wasn't a lieutenant, such as Shaundi before the deaths of Johnny and the boss, or the leader, which was Shaundi's current position, ridiculed him whenever they had the chance. Even the Saints' mooks laughed their asses off at him. There was a good reason as to why the boss chose Shaundi to be the new leader of the Third Street Saints instead of Pierce Washington, and that was because she possessed a wider range of intelligence and common sense than arrogance and occasional stupidity.

After her exchange with Pierce, Shaundi killed the last sniper and signaled for him to follow her, as she found a staircase that led up to the platform the snipers were previously keeping careful eyes on so they could look out for any incoming Morning Star, but there seemed to be none after that point.

Shaundi's lieutenant didn't say another word throughout the rest of their venture throughout Powder. It seemed that her statement about him needing to become more prepared in case of large-scale situations affected his mood in a great way. Instead of apologizing to him for her sometimes irrational behavior, she didn't say anything of the sort whenever she felt the need to speak with him. As far as she was concerned, Pierce needed to learn crucial lessons from his own dumb mistakes to become a stronger man. Even though it was Shaundi's duty as the leader of the Saints to protect her lieutenants and foot soldiers, there was a large difference between protecting and babysitting, as was the case with Pierce. If he didn't learn from his mistakes, Shaundi's hopes of eventually destroying The Syndicate would result in a disappointing and humiliating failure due to her having to constantly drag him around like a baby because he can't properly defend himself when the numbers appear to be stacked against them.

The elevated platform Shaundi and Pierce stood on branched out in several directions. All of the paths, except for one, led to nothing but dead ends. The path that didn't lead to a dead end showed a single door that in turn revealed a somewhat dark hallway that led to _another _door. It was a chance for Pierce to make a somewhat witty remark, but Shaundi putting him in his place caused no such banter to be uttered from his mouth.

Instead of the next room being filled with endless boxes like before, it was instead filled with surprisingly large computers. Whatever purpose they were built to fulfill was unknown, but Shaundi and Pierce found themselves surprised at the sight.

Pierce, having _another _chance to make a witty comment, refrained from speaking. Shaundi, somewhat out of character, decided to the remark she guessed he was thinking, considering _someone _had to do it.

"You know, for a _designer _gun store, I have yet to see a single gun in here," she stated as she surveyed the area. "I think you were right in saying Loren was hiding something, Pierce," she added, hoping to get Pierce to speak.

He did.

"Wait, I was _right _about something? Holy shit, I don't believe it!" He excitedly exclaimed as a huge smile covered his mouth. "This is fucking great!"

Meanwhile, Shaundi was slightly cringing at his reaction. "Pierce, just because I _thought _you were right about something, doesn't guarantee you were, so don't get your hopes up."

"_Actually, I'd say Mr. Washington was quite correct in his guess," _a voice suddenly resounded from the speakers that surrounded the computer room. Shaundi instantly recognized the person said voice belonged to.

_Loren_.

"What the _fuck_ do you want, Loren?" Shaundi questioned him in an annoyed tone. "Can't you see we're busy trying to destroy your precious gun store?"

"_What I want is nothing more than the Saints to be burned alive at the hands of The Syndicate, Ms. Shaundi, and you shall be its first victim after your friends Mr. Gat and your former boss," _he stated as casually as possible while snickering at his own remark as if it was a sick joke. _"As for Powder, I honestly couldn't care less what you do to it. I can always build another one."_

"One, my name is _Shaundi_, not 'Ms. Shaundi', and two, I'm gonna make sure I rip your _fucking _head off before that happens," Shaundi stated in a venom-filled tone as though rage was consuming her body, "and besides, if you want me to be the first victim, why don't you come down here and face me like a man instead of hiding back in your 'precious' Syndicate Tower like a fucking pussy?"

"_Now, now," _the Belgian man taunted her, not the least bit fazed by Shaundi's insult and vulgarity, or even the fact that she was aware of his hiding spot, _"there's a much better time and place for that. For the time being, I'd like you to say 'hello' to my… little friend," _Loren trailed off, laughing once more as he ended the chat between the two.

"'Little friend'? What the fuck is that French fuck talking about?" Pierce pondered out loud to himself.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, almost as if an earthquake was occurring.

Unlike an earthquake, however, the shaking became increasingly more violent as time passed by and the vibrations in the ground nearly caused Shaundi and Pierce to be swept off their feet, only for it to suddenly cease as the two regained their balance.

Shaundi and Pierce turned around and exited the kitchen, only to be introduced to a figure that could be described as nothing more than a hideous abomination. It appeared to stand around eight feet tall, possessed arms that were as wide as tree trunks and seemed powerful enough to stop a moving train, and was heavily, and nearly literally, breathing down their necks. Whatever this figure was certainly wasn't very happy to see them.

"What. The. FUCK. IS. **THAT?!**" Shaundi exclaimed in what sounded like absolute fear.

"I don't know, and I sure as _Hell_ don't wanna find out!" Pierce shouted in response as he attempted to escape from the abomination, only to be violently slammed into the nearest set of boxes by the brute, seemingly killing him in the process.

"PIERCE!" Shaundi yelled in horror at her friend, who appeared to have lost his life. As much as she wanted to help him, she didn't dare move a muscle, as she feared meeting the same fate as Pierce.

"_Ms. Shaundi, allow me to proudly introduce you to one of my brutes," _Loren introduced the figure to Shaundi as his voice returned to the speakers. "_They are the most effective killing machines to walk the face of the Earth and will make no hesitation to brutalize anyone who stands in their way."_

_Brutalize? Explains why they're called brutes, then_, Shaundi thought to herself despite being legitimately afraid of the brute that was towering over her.

The brute made the first move by trying to swing at her, but Shaundi quickly dodged the attack and emptied an entire clip of ammo from her K-8 Krukov at the brute's head believing it would die from the shots, but it hardly appeared unfazed by them; in fact, it only seemed to become more aggravated than before.

_The brute just ate an entire clip of ammo like it was nothing!_

Shaundi personally had to chastise herself in the situation she found herself in. If she had the opportunity to spend enough money to fully upgrade her K-8 Krukov, it would come with a grenade launcher that would likely provide her with an essential advantage against the brute, but unfortunately she hadn't done that in this case. As a result she was forced to run from the brute while occasionally firing bullets at its head to hopefully damage it and momentarily stagger it.

Despite its large and bulky stature, however, the brute was a fast runner and was coming close to placing Shaundi in the same fate as Pierce. Shaundi, who was running for another set of boxes, quickly turned her head to notice the brute catching up to her and decided to stand against the wall. She was hoping the abomination would be dumb enough to ram itself into the wall, seeing as a lack of intelligence was a trend that caught onto most large monsters.

The brute, realizing the leader of the Saints was against the wall, backed up and slowly readied itself before charging toward Shaundi like a ruthless bull. At the last second, Shaundi hastily dived out of the way, causing the brute to come crashing into the wall with nothing but a large _SPLAT! _accompanying the impact between its head and the brick wall in front of it.

Shaundi flinched at the sound of the impact and closed her eyes, but slowly opened them to noticed that the brute's head was completely missing, and part of the brick wall was coated in its blood.

_Well, at least these things are dumber than they look_.

She recalled her K-8 Krukov along with whatever number of bullets remained inside and dashing over to Pierce's location to check on his condition. Upon a brief inspection, it could be believed that he was dead. In reality, it turned out that the 'meeting' with the brute had knocked him into a coma, as he was breathing at a slow rate. Even though he wasn't gone, Shaundi realized that if she didn't assist Pierce with the proper help, he would be dead.

Without any hesitation, Shaundi hauled Pierce's unconscious body over her shoulder, and slowly departed from Powder, as the confrontation with the brute left her completely exhausted due to not arriving prepared, a trait both she and her lieutenant seemed to have in common with each other.

Once she had fully departed from the designer gun store, she took a temporary last look at it, as if she was indirectly implying she would later return to burn it to the ground. Even though destroying The Syndicate was one of her top priorities, a higher and much important priority was protecting her crew, as she didn't want Pierce or any other Saint to undergo the same fate as Johnny and the boss did. Loren, Powder, and the rest of The Syndicate weren't about to leave Steelport anytime soon, so she had all the time in the world to fulfill that goal. As Loren himself said, there was a much better time and place, as much as it pained her to follow the Belgian man's advice.


	8. New Developments

Well, after a huge delay, the eighth chapter is finally here! Sorry it took me so long; I've recently been bombarded with college work, leaving me with little to no time to work on this.

Anyway, without further ado, here it is!

* * *

**New Developments**

After Shaundi departed from Powder with the unconscious body of Pierce Washington hanging over her shoulder, she located her purple Torch and carefully placed his body in the passenger's seat and strapped the seat belt against his body in case of any incoming accidents during their ride. She then sat in the driver's seat, ignited the engine, and set the GPS on her iPhone's map app to her next destination, Bridgeport Hospital, which was fittingly located in the neighborhood of Bridgeport.

Once she arrived at the hospital, she entered through the front doors and explained to the receptionist at the front desk what had happened to her lieutenant back at Powder. Her response came in the form of a few paramedics arriving shortly thereafter with an operating table through which Shaundi carefully placed Pierce on the table. The paramedics then transferred him down several halls of the hospital to a temporary room, due to a severe overcrowding of needing patients flooding the building, while she followed suit.

The two Saints were temporarily left alone in the room. Shaundi was desperately hoping that Pierce would soon awake from his unconscious state, but he did not, causing her to become increasingly nervous about his condition. To hopefully provide noise in the silent room, she found the remote to the small television found in the corner of the room, and turned it on. She _really _hoped there was something decent on that could momentarily sway her attention away from the situation at hand.

The first thing to pop onto the screen with the touch of the remote was an episode of _SpongeBob SquarePants_; oddly enough, it was the episode where he broke his spatula, and it was specifically playing the scene where he cries over his spatula at the hospital. She found the coincidental scene to be slightly creepy and hastily changed the channel, the remote almost slipping out of her hand upon doing so.

On the next channel was none other than _Terminator 2: Judgment Day_. It was one of her favorite movies, but one of the more graphic scenes was playing, and she wasn't in the mood to see anything that even slightly resembled her current situation with her injured lieutenant.

Shaundi then decided to intentionally speed past several other channels, figuring the same coincidence on those stations as well. However, she suddenly remembered that Pierce, for some strange reason, was a huge fan of _Nyte Blayde_, and she recalled seeing a commercial about an all-day, first season premiere marathon for the show, but that commercial had aired a couple days ago so it probably ended at the end of that day. Despite the possibility of her guess being true, she flipped the television to Channel 12, and speak of the devil (or one of them, in Shaundi's case), Josh Birk himself was on the screen, and it seemed she happened to tune into a new episode. She desperately wanted to cease the noise in the room with Birk chewing the scenery and hamming things up, but she was well aware Pierce loved the actor's vampire show and didn't want to disappoint him due to her own personal feelings interfering.

With a tug on the shoulder, Shaundi tried waking up Pierce, who was still unconscious from the damage he suffered at the hands of one of Loren's brutes. After a couple minutes his eyes slowly opened and he began stirring. He noticed his boss standing above him with a comforting expression, and was confused by what was going on.

"Shaundi, where the hell am I?" Pierce curiously asked, sounding like he was half-asleep and somewhere else at the moment. "And why is _Nyte Blayde _playing on the TV behind you?" He noticed as he titled his head to the left to notice the television. "I thought you hated Birk and his show."

"Pierce, you're at the hospital," she calmly responded to his first question, wanting him to relax in his current state, "it's great to see that you're awake. As for _Nyte Blayde _being on, let's just say I didn't want a certain someone to miss a new episode of his favorite show," she stated with a slight wink of her eye.

"Wow," he chuckled, "I had no idea you knew about that."

Shaundi shrugged her shoulders. "What I can say? There's been times where I remember the boss complaining because he forgot to record episodes for you."

"Really?" He asked in genuine surprise. "When did he ever-"

Their conversation was interrupted by a doctor entering the room, accompanied by a nurse. They appeared to be in a slight rush, as they hastily motioned for Shaundi to move to the side as they appeared to transport Pierce to a permanent room. Strangely enough, neither of them uttered a single word to her or her lieutenant.

She desperately wanted to follow their path to ensure Pierce was in good hands, but a different nurse kindly requested her to leave, as visitor hours were ending. Normally she would retort by angrily protesting, but she kindly followed the suggestion, departed from Bridgeport Hospital, entered her Torch through the driver's seat, and sped off into the early sunrise.

Perhaps if Shaundi had been paying more attention to her surroundings, she may have noticed the familiar face who was inspecting the beautiful sports car in her absence…

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Syndicate Tower, The Syndicate's general base of operations, Phillipe was relaxing in his personal room at the top floor of the building like any other cliché criminal mastermind. In his hands he was reading the latest edition of _Steelport News_, Steelport's weekly newspaper. Viola and Kiki were mindlessly flipping through television channels like there was no tomorrow in the meantime, hoping to find something even remotely entertaining to watch.

Flipping a page or two, passing the boring filler, he evilly laughed at the sight of Pierce's injury and hospitalization being a major topic in the newspaper, followed by an 'interview' with Shaundi. Part of him didn't quite understand how the news spread around so quickly, while the other part of him couldn't have cared less about the former.

A hand reached for his cigarette box and popped it open, deciding to celebrate his momentary success with a good smoke, but noticed he didn't have one available.

"Viola, fetch me a cigarette," he barked out at one of the twin DeWynter sisters in his thick French accent, "I am in need of one."

"Sir, there's a pack in your pocket," she remarked while refusing to remove her eyes from the screen.

The Belgian man notably growled in disgust at her apparent refusal to follow his order, and hastily removed the pack from its current location. He removed one of the cigarettes and placed it in his mouth while finding his lighter in his pocket to light it up.

"No offense, sir, but why do you smoke those, anyway?" Kiki chimed in, also refraining from detracting her eyes from the television. "You know you can get lung cancer from smoking too many of them."

Phillipe chuckled in amusement at the other twin's remark. "I see those degrees in economics have taught you two well," he stated as he set the newspaper aside and slowly stood up, "but that is beside the point. We need to act."

Viola and Kiki noticed the sudden seriousness in his voice and shut the television off.

"What are we going to do?" They both asked at the same time.

"We are going to attack the Saints while they are vulnerable," he announced as sharply as possible. He then approached his phone and dialed Killbane's number. "Mr. Killbane, there is business to attend to."

The Walking Apocalypse wasted no time in arriving at Phillipe's location, appearing as ready as ever to raise some hell.

"What do you request, Phillipe? Because if it's an ass-kicking the Saints need, it's an ass-kicking they're going to get," he said, cracking his knuckles and neck to prepare himself as he entered his room.

With Killbane and the DeWynter sisters standing side-by-side-by-side, Phillipe slowly paced back and forth like an army general, not taking his eyes, or, in this case, eye off any one of them. With nothing but dead seriousness in his voice, he stated, "We are going to attack Mr. Washington."

What the Belgian honestly expected was for the three key heads of The Syndicate supporting his plan with one-hundred percent confidence.

However, what he received instead were widened eyes, as if they each disapproved of his plan.

He cocked an eyebrow at their reactions. "You three have a problem with my plan?"

"Pierce is at the hospital after your brute nearly killed him!" Kiki exclaimed in disgust. "I understand you were trying to send a message, but that wasn't the way to do it!"

Viola only nodded her head in agreement with her sister, feeling the same way.

Even Killbane appeared to share the sentiment as the DeWynters, except in a much calmer tone. "I may have injured a lot of guys in my career, but it was never real and only part of the storyline," he stated with a hand firmly planted against his chest. "It's completely unjustified to attack someone when they're hurt like this. Just because I portrayed myself as Caesar before didn't mean I really _was_ him. It was all part of television."

With Killbane's reply, Phillipe stopped dead in his tracks and solely focused his attention on the masked wrestler standing in front of him. "Mr. Killbane, I'm quite surprised by your behavior," he said with the faintest hint of annoyance in his voice. "The last time I checked, you were The Walking Apocalypse, a powerful figure who mercilessly stepped on anyone in his path to achieve nothing but absolute greatness, and now you're telling me you don't even have the _balls _to attack a hospitalized adversary?" He paused, seemingly finished with his rebuttal, but added in another remark.

"In fact, you have yet to fetch me Ms. Shaundi's head after I kindly requested you to do so. I thought we were on equal terms here, Mr. Killbane."

The DeWynter sisters quietly gasped in shock at their leader's use of language, becoming aware that the situation was increasing in seriousness with each passing second. Never before had they heard such words be released from his mouth.

Killbane, despite towering over his superior in front of him by more than a foot and frequently, if not, always displaying an air of total confidence and portraying himself as one of the gods in Greek mythology, began to show the slightest hints of intimidation, as his large palms were beginning to sweat profusely and he couldn't think of a proper rebuttal to Phillipe calling him out for his apparent change in demeanor. He tried to keep the hints as subtle as possible, and while the twins couldn't recognize the fact that he was momentarily speechless, the Belgian leader of The Syndicate could see right through The Walking Apocalypse like water in a crystal-clear glass, and it was amusing to a point, based upon the suddenly-growing smirk on his face.

He took his opportunity to openly damage Killbane's pride. "It's quite sad to see that I intimidate you, coming from someone of your stature," he mocked and openly lied, actually taking great pleasure in intimidating the masked leader of the Luchadores, "and also very funny to see that you don't want to attack the hospitalized Mr. Washington, seeing as I believe you attacked Roddy Piper and broke his leg at a gas station in Pittsburgh some time ago."

Killbane couldn't take it anymore.

"THAT WAS PART OF A _FUCKING_ STORYLINE AND YOU KNOW IT, PHILLIPE!" He absolutely thundered in Phillipe's face, his skin immediately fading from its normal shade of beige into a dark shade of blood red, his eyes flustering with possibly the highest degree of anger, illustrating how pissed off he had become due to the relentless insults he received at the hands of The Syndicate's leader.

In an interesting turn of events, Killbane was no longer intimidated by Phillipe, and it was the latter who found himself slowly backing away from The Walking Apocalypse with legitimate fear visible in his eyes… well, eye, but you get the idea. Viola and Kiki, meanwhile, were simply watching the event unfold in absolute silence, somewhat amused by the tides suddenly turning against the very man who hired them.

"Aren't you two going to help me?!" He impatiently exclaimed at them with widened eyes, sounding as though he was losing his sanity.

"Hey, we're not the ones who pissed him off, Phillipe," Kiki replied as she raised her arms, "you are."

Phillipe gulped and realized the one DeWynter sister was absolutely right. Aggravating Killbane was completely on him, so it was his responsibility to handle the situation himself.

He didn't want to force himself to do this, but he felt as though there was no other option.

He slowly placed a hand in his other pocket and began to pull out a shiny, metal object…

* * *

"Goddammit!" Shaundi cursed out loud as she furiously slammed her boot into the gas pedal, thinking about her lieutenant's current condition as she increased her speed on the road. "Why the fuck is this shit happening to _me_?"

The leader of the Third Street Saints didn't _want_ to be completely pissed off, but she felt as though she didn't have a choice. Ever since she changed her image from a constantly-stoned and spaced out hippie chick to a cleaned-up, sexy, young woman, she had gone through some life-changing moments, and several of them, especially the events of the past week, harshly pulled on the light strings that were her suddenly-existent emotions. They weren't quite there during her previous lifestyle, but that's what happens when you're constantly baked out of your mind on almost every drug known to mankind and then some.

Shaundi didn't want to make a scene in the middle of the hospital with Pierce. It was a tense situation, sure, but it was a risky move. If Saints were still an ordinary gang when the incident occurred and she _wasn't _wasted, she would've threatened to kill all the doctors and nurses in sight if her friend didn't receive medical attention asap, but performing said action nowadays would completely shatter their image, and the road they had taken to gain their current status was a long and arduous one.

"First Phillipe kills Johnny and the boss, and nearly kills Pierce with one of his steroid-filled science experiments that nearly ran me over! How the fuck am I supposed to deal with those things on a daily basis?" She asked to no one in particular, realizing she wasn't going to receive any sort of answer. "God, being the boss was harder than I thought, but someone's gotta do it, and it may as well be me…"

Taking her mind off of the disasters she had recently experienced, Shaundi again slammed her boot, this time against the brake, bringing her Torch to a screeching halt before stopping inches away from the big rig in front of her. She couldn't tell what was occurring in front of her, but she had a feeling she was going to be here for a while.

She temporarily removed a hand from the steering wheel, as she was receiving a call from her agent. Whenever her agent called, it was usually about something related to her reality dating show, _I Wanna Sleep with Shaundi_.

"What's up?" She asked as she answered the phone, relieved that there was something to her to relax about.

"_Shaundi, the executive producer of _I Wanna Sleep with Shaundi _called, and he needs you at the airport so the next episode can be filmed. He tried calling you directly, but apparently you're weren't answering," _he responded on the other line.

"Does he need me over there right away? I'm kinda caught in the middle of a traffic jam."

"_He heard about what happened to you guys, and he's in no rush so take your time."_

"Alright, that sounds good. Thanks for letting me know, and tell him I'll be there as soon as possible."

"_Will do, Shaundi. I'll talk to you later."_

"Alright, I'll talk to you later," she finished as she ended the conversation. To her surprise, the truck in front of her was now moving forward. It was moving forward at a slow pace, but it was moving; that was all that mattered.

Shaundi set a waypoint on her GPS for the airport and dramatically increased her speed once the truck was no longer in her path.

_A new episode, huh? Looks like the Puerto Rican thunder god is really making his rounds… _She thought to herself, somewhat amused by the contestant, before once again speeding off.

* * *

Again, I'm terribly sorry about the delay. I'm not sure how long it'll take for me to write the next chapter, but I'll be sure to keep you guys updated on the matter if it takes me a while, so stay tuned!


	9. Old Acquaintances

**Old Acquaintances **

Immediately after ending the conversation with her agent and setting a waypoint for the Wesley Cutter International Airport, Shaundi returned to her GPS and edited the waypoint to create the fastest and shortest route possible, as she didn't want to waste any time getting there.

Once she arrived in close proximity of her destination, Shaundi noticed a strange lack of camera crews and even on-foot cameramen. Normally, there would be a shitload in sight if an episode was being filmed. She had no idea just what the hell was going on, but whatever it was, she didn't like it one bit.

_I swear to God I'm gonna kill my agent if he was bullshitting me about this._

She made a sharp right into the entrance of the airport to confirm if her suspicions were true.

In the far distance, she could briefly make out what appeared to be several Infuegos clad in red and black.

_Looks like I'm gonna have to hire a new agent, then…_

It was none other than Loren's mooks, the Morning Star, and Shaundi had a feeling they were itching for a fight with her. Briefly taking a boot off the gas pedal, she slowly placed it back into position and lightly applied pressure on the pedal, causing her Torch to slowly drag at a rough rate of five miles per hour. She honestly hated having to drive at such a slow pace as she was never accustomed to it, but it was all she could do if she wanted the element of surprise on her side.

Shaundi slowly applied the brakes to her sports car once the Morning Star mooks in the distance grew closer, bringing the vehicle to a halt. She narrowed her eyes to the mooks and noticed something odd about their behavior.

Their backs were completely turned to her, causing Shaundi to become slightly annoyed.

Here she sat, the leader of the Third Street Saints, a gang full that possessed a huge threat to The Syndicate, out in the open and outnumbered by what appeared to be nearly a dozen members of one of its own gangs, the Morning Star, and they were ignoring her presence _entirely_? She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Shaundi continued inching the car closer, and noticed something even stranger about the rival gang's behavior.

_Oh, what the fuck?_

They were assaulting what appeared to be an ordinary citizen.

Normally, Shaundi wasn't too irked by something like this… if the citizen had a perfectly good reason to be assaulted. In this case, however, the victim how was currently getting the shit beaten out of him looked like he couldn't hurt a fly.

Within seconds, she could hear what sounded like screams of agony, and rolled a window down while folding an ear to hopefully receive better sound.

"Spill the beans, Donnie! We KNOW you saw her!" A random mook harshly yelled at the citizen. He seemed to be the 'leader' of the group that surrounded Donnie, as he was the only one talking.

Shaundi instantly removed her hand from her ear and widened her eyes.

_Donnie?_

"I didn't see her, I swear!" He retorted in his familiar, fearful tone whenever he was placed in any sort of danger.

_No, this can't be happening. The last time I checked, Donnie was back in Stilwater. What the hell is he doing here?_

"Bullshit, we KNOW you saw that Shaundi slut back at the hospital!" The mook replied back as he landed a sharp blow across Donnie's face.

_Oh, so they ARE looking for me, but why would they ask him? He's not affiliated with them._

"For the last time, I DIDN'T fucking see her! How many times do I have to tell you this?"

"Not much longer, if you don't give us the information we need," the mook threatened him as he cocked a .45 Shepherd and placed it against his cheek.

Shaundi couldn't take it anymore. She didn't know what the fuck was going on, but she was going to find out. She cocked her K-8 Krukov to ensure it was ready for action, and quickly exited her Torch.

"Step away from the mechanic, assholes!" Shaundi yelled, causing the Morning Star to turn around in surprise, except for the 'leader' of the group, who seemed quite amused by her sudden appearance.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Shaundi. You know, I'm surprised that you had the balls to show up here, considering you don't have any," he replied with a large smirk stretched across his face. His group found the insult quite funny.

Unbeknownst to him, a smirk was etched on her face as well. "That's pretty funny, coming from the guy who apparently needs his bitches to feel like a badass," she retorted, causing the large smirk on the mook's face to immediately disappear and Donnie to silently laugh, despite the pain he was in.

The mook noticed the mechanic laughing and forcefully bashed the blunt of the .45 Shepherd across his face, instantly knocking him out cold.

"Oh, how I wish you hadn't done that…" Shaundi dangerously trailed off in anger as she began to open fire on the group of Morning Star. Each of them barely had a second to react before receiving bullets in each of their heads, except for the leader, who was attempting to flee to his Infuego with his tail between his legs only for his luxury car to explode in his face, courtesy of a grenade thrown by Shaundi.

"You meddlesome BITCH!" He exclaimed in anger as he recovered from the explosion and slowly marched toward the leader of the Saints as though he possessed a huge threat to her, which he obviously didn't.

Shaundi allowed for the mook to approach her until they were face-to-face. Once there, she viciously kicked him where it hurt the most and finished him off with a Stone Cold Stunner. It didn't seem like much, but the combination with the damage he previously suffered from the explosion was enough to efficiently kill him.

Shaundi quickly surveyed the area to ensure every one of Loren's mooks were dead, and hastily ran over to Donnie, who was still knocked unconscious. He was hurt, but he'd heal up soon. Unlike Pierce, he wasn't bruised enough to be sent to the hospital, something which she was very grateful for.

She picked up the mechanic's unconscious body and hauled over her shoulder as she slowly returned to her sports car. Once there, she cautiously placed Donnie in the passenger's seat, strapped the seat belt against his body, and sat in the driver's seat. The car was still ignited, so she set her GPS for Saints' HQ and quickly departed from the airport, hoping the mechanic will at least be slightly conscious by the time she got there.

* * *

Back at the Syndicate Tower, Phillipe had unveiled his gleaming weapon of choice, a .44 Magnum, and firmly placed the gun against Killbane's massive chest, looking into the wrestler's eyes with fierce determination.

"Phillipe, I highly recommend you put that little toy away unless you want to see a massacre unfold," the Walking Apocalypse calmly stated as if he was completely unfazed by the sight of Phillipe's gun.

"If there is one thing I recommend, Mr. Killbane, it is that you choose your next words carefully, for they may be your last," he lowly threatened under his breath, quiet yet audible for everyone in the room to hear.

Killbane decided to spend the next few moments in absolute silence after Phillipe's deadly remark. It wasn't that he couldn't think of the proper words to utter toward his superior, but he honestly didn't feel like speaking. He was planning to break his patience in hopes of finally getting his way. At the same time, the DeWynter sisters continued to idly monitor the confrontation as spectators. At this point they weren't liking what they were seeing, but even they knew better than to protest at this point.

The leader of the Syndicate continued to stare through the masked wrestler's eyes with the pistol still pointed against his chest, not bothering to peer his eyes way for even a second. Little did Killbane know that Phillipe was completely aware of his plan to destroy his patience, and it wasn't hindering him in any way. With this in mind, he finally decided to break the silence.

"I am not one who enjoys playing mind games, Mr. Killbane. I suggest you find another method before I _really _start to lose my patience."

A sigh escaped from Killbane's mouth; he voluntarily decided to give into the pressure.

"Alright, Phillipe, you got me." He stated as he defensively raised his hands in mocking fashion. "You want me to attack one of the Saints at the hospital, huh?"

With that remark, Phillipe removed the .44 Magnum and placed in back into his pocket. "Yes, that is correct," he began before momentarily pausing to raise a finger. "However, simply attacking Mr. Washington won't be enough." He then lowered his voice to a deadly whisper, as if he didn't want the DeWynter sisters to hear him. "I want you to _kill _him."

"Alright then, I'll kill him… on one condition."

Phillipe cocked an eyebrow. "A condition? Fine. State your terms."

"I'll kill him… if you double my pay," Killbane stated with fierce seriousness.

"You want me to _double _your pay?"

"Yes, I want you to double my pay. I'm not going to a fucking hospital to kill this guy unless you agree to my terms."

The Belgian man sighed in disgust, realizing he was now the one on the receiving end.

"Fine, I'll do it… just go kill him now before I regret my decision..."

Killbane smirked in victory. "I'm glad you see things my way, Phillipe," he stated as he turned and headed for the doors. Once he was out of sight to hear anything more, Viola decided to speak.

"Are you _seriously_ going to double his pay?" The white sunglasses-clad DeWynter sister asked disbelievingly.

Phillipe released a laugh from his mouth as if she had told a funny joke. "Of course not, Viola. Why in the world would I do such a thing for him? He doesn't deserve it."

"But sir, what you're forcing him to do isn't exactly the best-"

He raised a hand in the air to interrupt the other DeWynter sister. "Now, now, Kiki, we are done discussing this topic about Mr. Killbane." He intentionally paused to allow the silence to change the subject. "When he returns, I want you two ladies to be prepared for anything, and I mean _anything_. Is that clear?"

Both twins nodded simultaneously, showing the utmost loyalty to the man who hired them. "Yes, sir."

* * *

After the incident involving Shaundi, Donnie and the Morning Star, she slowly and easily returned to Saints' HQ. Once there, she comfortably placed the mechanic in one of the penthouse's many beds so he could properly rest after being fatally struck earlier.

Shaundi had maintained a calm, cool, and collected demeanor during the ride on the outside. On the inside, however, words couldn't describe how pissed off she had become; in fact, it was amazing that she was somehow able to keep her emotions in check, as anyone else in the same situation as her would be an absolute train wreck.

She decided to sit on the couch and take a moment to collect her thoughts.

_These past few days couldn't have gone any fucking better, could they?_

_Johnny is dead…_

_The boss is dead…_

_Pierce is at the hospital…_

…_and I've recently found none other than Donnie, who's currently resting up._

_If I was still baked out of my mind like the old days, I wouldn't be falling apart at the seams._

_But I am, and I need to fight it._

Her hands balled up into fists at that point, but uncurled them shortly thereafter.

_I should go to the hospital and check on Pierce. _

She looked out the window, noticing the sun was falling.

_It's getting late. Shit, time really flies in Steelport._

Shaundi departed from the penthouse and decided to return to Bridgeport Hospital to check on her good friend, leaving Donnie alone to recuperate.

Shaundi arrived at Bridgeport Hospital in due time. She remembered where Pierce was staying, so she didn't need any assistance there. In the room itself, Pierce was still dressed in his regular clothing and appeared to be fine.

Pierce was completely unaware that she was visiting him, so he found himself genuinely surprised when she came in, as he was busy watching television.

"Hey Pierce," Shaundi cheerfully greeted him while entering his room, "how do you feel? You look like you're healing well."

Pierce shut the TV off and slowly sat up in an almost Undertaker-like style, and Shaundi swore she heard a couple bones crack. She went to assist him, but he placed a hand up, signaling he didn't need it.

"Believe it or not, this motherfucker is feeling great!" He happily exclaimed as he stood up on his own two feet.

A happy smile appeared on Shaundi's face, but she wasn't quite certain whether he was telling the truth. After all, this was _Pierce _she was talking to. His arrogance often caused him to speak before thinking.

"What did the doctors say?" She inquired.

"They said the encounter with Loren's bitch only left me with small bruises, but nothing really major." He truthfully stated.

"Are you serious?" Shaundi asked, disbelievingly. "No offense, but it looked like that brute absolutely thrashed you back there."

"I know, right? I was thinking the same thing myself," he replied. "Now let's get outta here. I never liked being in hospitals."

The two Saints departed from the hospital afterward. The paramedics suggested that Pierce was to be escorted outside in a wheelchair as it was standard protocol, but the two left in such a hasty manner that they were unable to get the message across.

Shortly after their departure, Killbane entered the hospital and requested for the location of Pierce's room, but was immediately informed that he had left with Shaundi. Part of him was relieved that he didn't have to kill the man while he was defenseless, but the other part of him secretly feared how Phillipe was going to deal with the news. Phillipe _never _liked it when an order of his wasn't fulfilled.

* * *

"So, has much changed while I was at the hospital?" Pierce inquired, walking behind his boss to the entrance of Saints' HQ.

A slight smirk grew on Shaundi's face as she opened the door and held it open for her lieutenant. "Well, aside from me rescuing Donnie from the Morning Star, everything's been the same."

Pierce paused dead in his tracks, and he had been drinking something, he would've immediately performed a spit take. "Wait, did you say you rescued _Donnie_ from the Morning Star? You mean, the guy who was once Maero's bitch?" He incredulously asked.

Shaundi nodded and quickly gestured for him to enter as she was still holding the door open. "Yeah, I was _really_ surprised to see him. I wanted to know what he was doing in Steelport, but he was out cold before I could ask him anything."

"Well, where the hell is he now?" Pierce asked as he entered the lobby and closed the door behind him.

"Oh, he's here," she replied as she pressed the call button for the elevator. "He's resting in one of the bedrooms upstairs."

"Well shit, we better hurry our asses up!" He excitedly exclaimed.

"Why? It isn't like Donnie's going anywhere, and Pierce, you _just _got out of the hospital," Shaundi stated, suddenly serious. "I know you _think _you're fine, but you still need to be careful; neither of us can afford to have you go through the same incident again, because if you do, it could be a _hell_ of a lot worse than before."

"Alright, alright, stop treating me like I'm your long-lost son, okay? I can handle myself," Pierce arrogantly stated while the elevator arrived and signaled for both of them to enter.

Shaundi silently entered the elevator and pressed the button to take them to the penthouse's main floor and sighed. Pierce was a good friend, but sometimes his arrogance _really _got on her nerves.

_No, you can't_, she thought to herself, before the elevator shut its doors and began to rise to the floor where both Saints would find themselves reuniting with a familiar face.

* * *

For all intents and purposes, I decided to bring good ol' Donnie back because I really liked him in the first and second entries in the series and was disappointed to see he wasn't in _The Third_.


End file.
